The second round of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship has ended in Frauenfeld with Big Van World MTX Kawasaki’s Courtney Duncan taking the victory.
This was a tough battle across the board and spanned over Saturday and Monday where riders gave their best to get to the top while also having had to fight against a downpour on Saturday making the track a bit heavier.
In the first race on Saturday, the first lap was eventful as MX Fonta Racing’s Kiara Fontanesi quickly took the lead after the first turns to see RFME GasGas WMX Team’s Daniela Guillen all over a rear wheel making a move early to take the lead off Fontanesi. The two riders were followed by JK Racing Yamaha Charli Cannon and Courtney Duncan, 3rd and 4th respectively after lap 1.
Still in the first lap we saw Nancy Van De Ven of Ceres 71 Racing remake the same mistake as in Sardinia as she crashed quickly and could not restart, missing on good points.
Duncan passed Cannon on lap 2 as the Kiwi looked really quick on her bike and caught the front two Guillen and Fontanesi. Cannon kept her 4th position until the end.
The front three created a gap with the rest of the pack as a three-way battle went on between lap 2 and 5. Fontanesi eventually took the lead as she passed Guillen on lap 4 while Duncan in 3rd position at the time, tirelessly put pressure on Guillen. Guillen could not contain Duncan’s speed on lap 5 and moved down to 3rd.
It was then all about Duncan piling pressure on Fontanesi who bravely resisted for 2 laps but Duncan was too quick and finally passed Fontanesi on lap 7 and kept the lead until the end. Fontanesi finished 2nd and Guillen settled for 3rd.
Getting in 5th place after lap 1 Lotte Van Drunen had to battle to keep this position as she moved down to 7th on lap 4 but fought her way back up, as she overtook Sara Andersen on lap 8 and Fantic Maddii Factory Racing’s Lynn Valk with two laps to go on lap 10, showing her great technique to settle for 5th in the end. Valk had a good run oscillating between 7th and 5th throughout the whole race to finish in 6th position while Andersen rode a similar race and finished 7th.
Britt Jans-Beken and Larissa Papenmeier, 8th and 9th after lap 1, followed each other until Papenmeier managed to pass Jans-Beken on lap 7 to finish 8th while Jans-Beken settled in 9th.
On Easter Monday, the race 2 started with Van Drunen taking the lead in front Van de Ven and Duncan.
Van Drunen never got troubled upfront as she increased the gap all way through the second race. Van de Ven 2nd for the first 2 laps could not contain Duncan on lap 3. Van de Ven kept her good pace and tried to make a charge on Duncan on the last lap but Duncan held on to finish 2nd and Van de Ven 3rd.
Behind them Guillen did not start as she wanted and found herself 6th behind Valk. A wonderful and tough battle ensued over 7 laps with Valk resisting every attack from the Spanish rider. At the end of an intense fight Guillen managed to pass but Valk respnded directly to get back to 5th. However on lap 7 Guillen made good another move and this time made her pass stick to get to 5th. Valk kept her 6th place until the end.
Guillen continued with determination as she breathed pass Fontanesi on lap 8, and finished 4th in the end. Fontanesi was 4th for the first 7 laps and with Guillen overtaking her on lap 8 she remained at a good 5th place.
Andersen had a strong race throughout as she never got overtaken and kept her 7th place from start to finish. Cannon rode a good pace too as she went 9th in the first 3 laps and capitalised on Papenmeier’s mistake (8th at the time) on lap 4, to go up to 8th along with Giorgia Blasigh who followed Cannon over the whole race to finish at a good 9th place. Papenmeier fought back after her mistake and went from 13th to 10th overtaking along the way, Danee Gelissen (12th in the end), Shana Van der Vlist (17th in the end) and Jans-Beken (11th in the end) with 2 laps to go to finish 10th.
In the end, Courtney Duncan was on the top of the podium in front of Lotte Van Drunen in 2nd place and Daniela Guillen 3rd. The second round of the WMX in Switzerland has been very competitive and Duncan showed her quick pace winning her first GP of the season while Van Drunen delivered another strong performance as she takes the Red Plate as she tops the Championship.
Courtney Duncan: “It was a pretty good round! The track was deep and I put myself in a very good position from the start. It feels amazing going forward into the Championship”
