The four-time world champion revealed to the Otago Daily Times she does not have a seat in this year’s Women’s Motocross Championship (WMX).
"It’s like you’re only as good as your last race and I’ve had a lot of time off and people forget quickly," Duncan said.
"So, it’s been really hard to secure a ride for next year, if I’m going to be honest."
The Kawasaki rider said it was "pretty tough to have the phone call, but at the same time, that’s sport, right?".
"It’s business. You can’t be down and out about it."
The 30-year-old was hospitalised with a heart condition last year and missed the entire 2025 season.
She was diagnosed with pericarditis and spent the year recovering, which she puts at a "good 80%".
Duncan got back on her bike in October and has her first competitive race lined up for next month.
She has been named in the team to contest the Oceania Women’s Motocross Championships in Australia and will join Karaitiana Horne (Raetihi), Mikayla Griffiths (Taupō) and Amie Roberts (Hamilton).
There are no concrete plans after that.
Duncan had expected her contract with Kawasaki "to roll over to the next year", but got the bad news just before Christmas.
"Yeah, tough start to the new year, but I’m just trying to make it happen.
"I haven’t even thought about whether I would not be racing."
She rebounded from a devastating series of setbacks to win three consecutive championships from 2019 to 2021.
Duncan had been the fastest rider on the circuit for the three previous seasons as well, but luck was not riding pillion.
A foot injury derailed her campaign in 2018. A year earlier, the title was whipped away by a controversial jury decision. And in her rookie season in 2016, she collided with a wandering photographer.
She was dubbed the unluckiest athlete in Otago, but Duncan was also one of the most resilient.
The tiny township of Palmerston showed up en masse to welcome home their champion at Dunedin Airport when she returned with the title in 2019.
She won nine of her 10 races in an utterly dominant showing. No-one could match her pace, courage and determination.
Duncan won a fourth title in 2023.
The Oceania Women’s Motocross Championships is an opportunity for Duncan to remind everyone just how quick she is on two wheels.
"You always go into a race wanting to do your best.
"I haven’t been behind a gate in a long time. I’m hoping to get in some club racing at the end of the month, start of next month, before I go.
"But I’m just keen to get after it really."
The WMX is scheduled to get under way in late April and Duncan has not given up the fight.
"I’ve kind of just got to take it on the chin and take it for what it is and get back over there and get some results, really."
Getting back there might rely on the support of some generous local sponsors, or she might have to fund a chunk of the campaign herself, she said.
