I t certainly wasn ’ t easy and the racing went right down to the wire , but New Zealand ’ s Courtney Duncan sensationally made it back-to-back FIM World WMX Women ’ s Motocross Championship title wins on Oct 31-Nov 1 . It was an enthralling final round at Pietramurata in northern Italy as Kawasaki rider Duncan battled from behind in the points to successfully defend the title she first won for her Dixon Racing Team in 2019 . After a bike-breaking crash at the third round of five in this series at Mantova , in Italy , in September , the 24-year-old from Otago turned up at the final round in Italy four points adrift of the championship-leader , Dutch Yamaha rider Nancy Van De Ven . Probably destined never to race a WMX event on home turf , Duncan has throughout her career battled against the odds in hostile territory and been forced to dig deep and be strong in the face of adversity . She again rose to the challenge at the weekend . Duncan immediately stamped her authority on the event by claiming pole position in qualifying but a tangle in turn one sent the Kiwi crashing to the ground and she was forced to rejoin the race in last position . Duncan began an inspiring charge through the entire field and , remarkably , she was up to third position by the end of lap four . Despite still being a long way behind the race leaders , Duncan persevered and , just past the half-distance in the 20-minutes-plus-two-lap race , she moved into second place . Duncan was still 20 seconds behind the leader , Germany ’ s Larissa Papenmeier , but she refused to give up and eventually jumped into the lead as Papenmeier crumbled under the pressure and Duncan took a thrilling win by just two seconds from the German .