It was a superb weekend for the Big Van World MTX Kawasaki Team as Courtney Duncan once again proved why she is the best by collecting her fourth WMX World Championship Title alongside an overall podium win at the MXGP of Turkey.
A solid weekend with first in practice and qualifying, followed up by a dominating first race saw Courtney head into the final race with a comfortable lead and just 4 points needed to secure the title. A careful and methodical race two saw the Kawasaki rider confirm positions before being signalled by the team that she had the World Title in the bag, and was able to push on for the 4th overall podium of the season.
Courtney Duncan :
- Qualifying – 1st
- Race 1 – 1st
- Race 2 – 2nd
- Overall – 1st
WMX Overall – 1st
The plan was tro try and come away with a 14-point lead from Arnhem – so we were happy to come away with 16; which made the job coming here a lot easier, as it’s a track that Courtney does really well on. We stuck to the plan, even though it was only Courtney riding we took the long journey with the truck to give her the normal racing surroundings. There was a storm at the port – delaying the boat the truck was on by 36 hours. We had backup plans from Kawasaki Turkey, plus Jack and his mechanic Lewis were training in Italy on call. Everything turned out well as the truck arrived at 11 a.m. Friday morning. I was tracking the boat on an app all the way through – painful when they only do 20 knots an hour!
On to racing, Courtney started the day perfectly with first place in practice and qualifying.
In the first race she holeshot and led every lap, finishing 10 seconds ahead and needing only 4 points going into the second race. Saturday night there was a huge storm that cancelled the MXGP qualifying race. We knew that just getting around clean and safe was the goal, and then push once the track had some better lines, with the WMX being the first race out. Another good start on the Kawasaki 250 put Duncan in 3rd, she paced herself and kept out of trouble. At the halfway stage we let her know that her nearest rivals wouldn’t be able to win, so she was able to up a gear to take 2nd and the overall, this being her 4th overall out of 6 this season and one podium. This is our 4th World Title with Courtney over 5 years.
I’d like to thank all the sponsors and team personnel who have been involved in helping Courtney secure her 4th World Title. There are too many people to name but everyone knows who they are, from the UK to Belgium and New Zealand; especially her friends and family in New Zealand alongside Kawasaki NZ supporting her during her winter training. As always Kawasaki Europe, and all the staff and sponsors who continue to make this enjoyable. Moving forward, Jack is back over here and riding, the key plan is to ride our home GP at Matterley, although we may potentially eye up Italy.
Honestly I was not too stressed today; I knew what I needed to do and I know how to ride mud. Anything can happen in these conditions but I got a good start and just stayed upright. The conditions were difficult and slippery but it was the same for everyone and I ran it home in second; that was enough for the overall victory and the championship. It’s been a really good season with four GP wins and we were really consistent; for sure it’s a challenge when there are such long breaks between some races after you have started to build momentum but we kept our focus. I feel like we definitely stepped it up this year and my Kawasaki never missed a beat. And this title means so much to me; the first one in 2019 was a sigh of relief, getting the monkey off my back, but I got knocked down last year with my injury and I really wanted to raise the bar this year. It took a lot of hard work but my mom’s here this weekend for the first time and to experience one with her is very special so first we’ll enjoy this one and then we’ll start to work for the next one!
