main content of page
Racing News |
First GP Victory for Lotte van Drunen
Sixteen-year-old Lotte van Drunen swept to the maiden GP victory of her young career with a dominant maximum scoreline in the Dutch round of the FIM World WMX Women’s Motocross Championship at Arnhem.
The teenager had already shown her sand skills to perfection with a clear cut victory in the first moto on Saturday afternoon and she emphasized her dominance in the second twenty-minute-plus-two-lap moto on Sunday morning by literally blowing away the opposition. Already a bike-length in front at turn one to claim the holeshot award she was almost out-of-sight of the chasers within a lap and continued to stretch her advantage each lap on the rugged track, eventually claiming victory by no less than forty seconds to complete an unbeaten weekend for a career-first GP victory just eleven days after celebrating her sixteenth birthday. The maximum scoreline has also reduced her deficit to the series leader, fellow Kawasaki rider Courtney Duncan, to twenty-three points and she is now just seven points shy of second in the series as the championship heads to the final round at Afyonkarahisar in Turkey on September 2/3. The two-moto victory also extended Kawasaki's lead in the FIM Manufacturers' Championship to thirty points.
Big Van World MTX Kawasaki's Courtney Duncan missed the podium for the first time this season in fourth but the New Zealander dug deep all weekend in the rugged sand to maintain a sixteen-point advantage in the series standings heading to the final round in Turkey next month. After her fourth place in the first moto on Saturday she made an excellent start to race two in third position and even took over second momentarily on the opening lap. Not finding the necessary rhythm during the first half of the race on the deeply-rutted track she was pushed back to seventh within five laps but she showed her strong character and resolve as she refused to panic. Dropping her lap times by three seconds at half-distance she regained no less than three positions within a single lap and, lapping faster than any of the opposition with the exception of Kawasaki colleague van Drunen, she continued her charge to regain a fully-deserved third three laps from the finish.