C
ourtney Duncan (Altherm Yamaha)
dominated the second round of
the FIM Women’s Motocross World
Championship on the rut-strewn clay
of Agueda, Portugal to claim her first
round victory of 2018 and the WMX
Championship Red Plate as the new series leader.
Joining the ‘Kiwi Girl’ (1-1) on the podium were
Larissa Papenmeier (Suzuki) (3-2) and Nancy van de
Ven (Yamaha) (2-4), while the defending champion
Kiara Fontanesi (Yamaha) bounced back from 7th
in Race 1, for 3rd place in Race 2 and 4th overall.
The track in Agueda had been battered by rain
across the days leading in, which made the typically
hard-pack surface very soft and technical. Fresh off
her first race victory in the final race at the opening
round in Trentino, Italy, Courtney Duncan stamped
her authority on the 2018 WMX Championship
with a convincing double race win in Portugal.
In the opening race of the weekend, Duncan
got off to a blistering start, leading van de Ven
around turn one, while Fontanesi was left for dust
and forced to charge her way through the field.
What Fontanesi lacked in speed off the gate
she made up for on the track as she charged her
way up into the Top-10 before the end of lap 2.
After 10-minutes of weaving her way through the
pack, the defending champ made light work of
Photo: www.mxgp.com
14 KIWI RIDER
DUNCAN
after Portugal
the championship leader, Larissa Papenmeier,
before hitting a kicker on a short and sharp decent,
which caused her to crash. Following a quick
remount, the Italian fought back to 7th place.
Meanwhile, Duncan remained superior in her
craft on the rough and rutty red clay as she led
every single lap to win by 13-seconds over van
de Ven who crossed the line in 2nd place.
After overnight rain, the women lined up first thing
to face much sloppier conditions than they raced
in the day before. Duncan got off to another good
start and chased Papenmeier around turn-one
with Fontanesi in her wake. While frantically pulling
tear-off’s, after taking a face full of roost, Fontanesi