Courtney Duncan (DRT Kawasaki) retained her FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship title this season, although the twenty-four-year-old from New Zealand’s South Island had to fight every step of the way.
• All the 2020 FIM World champions
Following three years of trying – and three years of falling just short – Duncan finally claimed the crown in 2019 by a comfortable margin from Nancy van de Ven, however in 2020 the Dutch racer took her all the way to the final moto of the season and even then it needed a tie-break to decide the destination of the crown.
Duncan came out swinging at the opening round – the MXGP of Great Britain – at Matterley Basin at the beginning of March and firmly threw down the gauntlet with a double win as van de Ven finished off the podium. A week later at the MXGP of The Netherlands it was Larissa Papenmeier (Yamaha) who won as van de Ven pulled back two points on Duncan in the deep Valkenswaard sand.
After winning the opening race at round three – the MXGP of Lombardia – a disastrous no-score in the second moto dropped Duncan to fourth in the championship as Papenmeier and van de Ven set the pace. Duncan then tied with van de Ven at round four, taking the overall with 2-1 scores, but she trailed her rival by four points heading into the decider.
The MXGP of Trentino on the last day of October provided the perfect setting for the showdown. Duncan won the first race with van de Ven fifth to take a five-point lead into the final moto of the season which van de Ven won, though Duncan’s thrilling third was just good enough for the title.
PALMARES
FIM Women’s Motocross World Champion: 2019, 2020