Tempering all-out style with strategic thinking has put Otago rider on path to top.
Reminiscent of Katherine Prumm (now Oberlin-Brown) when she was at her finest on a motocross bike, young Courtney Duncan is herself dominating the FIM Women's World Motocross championship. Prumm made motocross history winning two world titles in 2006 and 2007 before injury put paid to her racing career.
Fellow Kiwi Duncan now sits at the top on the championship ladder three points ahead of Kiara Fontanesi. In a not too unfamiliar career trajectory, Duncan's had her own fair few thrills and spills over the past couple of seasons. She missed out on winning her maiden world title last year after hitting a photographer who had strayed on to the track.
Duncan has always thrown everything, including the kitchen sink, at trying to be first every single lap she races. This has, by her own admission, led to the odd tumble in the past and this season as well. With growing maturity, the Otago rider is now looking at a race as a whole, and not as a lap-by-lap sprint.
"To be honest my problem in the past has been I've wanted to win the first lap and the last lap and all the ones in between. There's not one woman who isn't trying their hardest and you have to be realistic that I'm not going to be the best every time," said Duncan from her base in Belgium.
