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The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

WMX, MXGP OF SARDEGNA (ITA) - Riola Sardo, ITALY, 26 Mars 2023

Double podium for the Kawasaki girls at WMX round one

Lotte van Drunen and Courtney Duncan made it a double podium for Kawasaki in the opening round of the FIM World WMX Women’s Motocross Championship at Riola Sardo on the island of Sardinia.

Following her sensational start-finish victory in Saturday's first moto the fifteen-year-old Dutch girl had to fight hard in race two after rounding turn one mid-pack but she was already into the top-ten on the opening lap and continued the forward momentum all moto with a series of exhilerating passes and the fastest laps in the field throughout the second half of the race. When she moved into third after thirteen minutes the leaders were already eight seconds down the track but her speed and commitment took the teenager to within less than a second of runner-up in the moto at the end of the twenty-minute-plus-two-laps race and secured second overall on the weekend.
 
Lotte van Drunen: "Saturday was perfect; fastest all day and leading the first moto all the way for the win. I didn't get such a good start in the second moto but I came back to third for the podium. Of course I would have liked to win the GP but this is my rookie season so it was a good start to take second. Big thanks to my dad, my brother, my mom and all my sponsors for getting me here."
 
Big Van World MTX Kawasaki's Courtney Duncan, already a three-times world champion in Green, knew that this series opener would be tough against the Dutch sand experts but her commitment and resilience paid dividends as she battled her way to the twenty-seventh GP podium of her career. She followed up a first moto third after a collision at the start with another determined ride to fourth in race two; seventh after two laps she gritted her teeth to grind down the opposition, sweeping into her eventual fourth place just over one lap from the finish to clinch third overall over the weekend.
 
Courtney Duncan: "I'm pretty proud of this weekend's performance to have taken the podium with two solid results in the sand. We know sand is not my strength so to come away with 4-3 motos and a podium is like a win. I just didn't have my rhythm at the start of the second race this morning but we pulled it back to take fourth on the second-last lap. It's a solid start to the season and has put us on the front foot for Switzerland in two weeks' time; it's all looking upwards from here on in."
 
The series resumes over the Easter weekend at Frauenfeld in Switzerland.