Otago star Courtney Duncan has cemented herself in world motocross championship history.
Duncan posted double WMX victories in France at the weekend to claim a record 22nd grand prix win.
Fittingly, her closest competitor at the Villars sous Ecot track was her long-time rival, Italian rider Kiara Fontanesi, who held the record with 21 victories.
Duncan beat six-time world champion Fontanesi in both races to claim overall victory in France and extend her world championship lead by 20 points.
"These French GP wins saw me take over the all-time GP wins in WMX and I’m definitely stoked on that," Duncan said.
"It was something I wanted to achieve coming into this weekend, so to tick that off is an incredibly good feeling."
A three-time world champion already, Duncan is in fine form this season with five moto wins from eight starts.
For the past two rounds, where she has won every race. It seems everything she touches turns to gold, and even a crash in the first moto in France just fuelled her fire.
Duncan (27) was quickly through to second with a dramatic downhill double-pass halfway around the opening lap on the highly technical, heavy French track.
As she closed in on leader Fontanesi, she cross-rutted on a heavy landing and was thrown into the trackside earth-bank.
Duncan quickly reboarded her Kawasaki KX250 and rejoined the race in fifth place, before swiftly moving back into third.
By lap four, she had regained second position, and on the eighth of 11 laps, having recorded a succession of fastest laps, she swept decisively around Fontanesi to move in front and eventually win by 27sec.
Heading out to the second race on a high, Duncan did something unusual for her.
"In the second race, I took the hole shot which usually never happens.
"So, I think I was honestly more stoked on the hole shot than the eventual race win. I led from start to finish so can’t complain about that."
Her second moto victory for the weekend was achieved 7sec ahead of Fontanesi.
As the WMX series takes a break until mid-August, Duncan heads home to New Zealand with a solid 20-point lead in the championship standings and the knowledge she is on track to win her fourth world title.
"I think there’s multiple things that are working for me in 2023," she said.
"It started off with our pre-season, where I had a really strong build-up in New Zealand. We put a lot of hard work in there and it set me off on the right foot.
"My bike is also super good, especially the suspension, which I did a lot of testing with before I left.
"I’m also another year wiser and it’s good to have a bit more speed. All in all, it’s been a really good start to the season."
Duncan will spend about a month in New Zealand before heading to the Netherlands, where the penultimate fifth round will be held.
"The next race is in the sand, so I will do about a five or six-week boot camp there to get ready for that."
— Staff reporter
