Duncan thrilled with training setup heading into new season

This weekend’s MX Fest in Taupo marks the beginning of a busy national season for Courtney Duncan and she is ideally set up to springboard back into the 2017 Women’s Motocross World Championships.

Palmerston’s Duncan (20) is one of two MX2 riders in the Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team and she will spend much of her summer competing in the North Island. Only one of her nine events is in the South Island.

She will live and train at the professional team’s base in Nelson.

"It has everything I need. The track and facilities are right on my doorstep. I couldn’t be more lucky," Duncan said.

Her coach, former world No2  motocross rider Josh Coppins, will be preparing her for her New Zealand races and then her international campaign, which begins in Indonesia on March 5.

In Duncan’s 2016 overseas season, she was beaten only once, when she managed to stay on her bike.

If an errantly-positioned photographer had not caused her to crash and injure herself badly enough to miss several rounds, Duncan could well be a world champion.

That is next year’s goal now and her team-mates, MX1 riders Australian Dean Ferris and former New Zealand MX2 champion Kayne Lamont, plus fellow MX2 rider Ethan Martens, will be pushing her to be the best she can be over the next five months.

"The team is so professional. We are all chasing that same thing. We all want to win. We all work to win. All of that is definitely a huge key."

She has updated her ride to a 2017 Yamaha YZ250F and was enjoying the fresh, fast feeling a new motocross bike entails.

While there are many who would not be surprised if Duncan won the MX2 class outright in Taupo, just as she did at the New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville in January, she is sticking to her usual approach.

"The same mentality. Go out there and try to do the best I can and focus on myself."

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