later , she swept into second place . On lap six she took over the lead , racing clear to secure the win by 12 seconds over Danish rider Sara Anderson , Duncan ’ s eighth victory in nine races , extending her world championship lead to 31 points . With a maximum of only 25 points available in the final race of the season the following day , she was already champion and greeted at the finish line after race one by a jubilant Bike It DRT Kawasaki crew and handed a golden helmet , the WMX champion for 2019 . She finished that glorious 2019 season ahead of Dutch rider Van de Ven , with Papenmeier finishing third overall . “ I ’ m just lost for words ; it ’ s indescribable !”, she said at the time . “ I ’ ve expected big things of myself ever since I joined Kawasaki at the start of the year , but I just had to take my time , learn from my mistakes and not quit . I ’ ve gone through hell in the past years to get here ; I ’ ve had so many tough times and injuries .” With a target now on her back , it certainly wasn ’ t easy for Duncan in 2020 and the racing went right down to the wire in Italy that November . It was an enthralling final round at Pietramurata , in northern Italy , as Duncan battled from behind in the points to successfully reclaim the crown . After a bike-breaking crash at the third round of five in this series at Mantova , in Italy , in September , Duncan turned up at the final round at Pietramurata four points adrift of the championship-leader , Nancy Van de Ven . Duncan immediately stamped her authority on the event by claiming pole position in qualifying , but a tangle in turn one sent the Kiwi crashing to the ground and she was forced to rejoin the race in last position , but began an inspiring
charge through the entire field and , remarkably , just past the half-distance in the 20-minutesplus-two-lap race , she had moved into second place . Still 20 seconds behind the leader , Papenmeier , she refused to give up and eventually jumped into the lead as Papenmeier crumbled under the pressure and Duncan took a thrilling win by just two seconds from the German . The last-gasp win meant Duncan had overturned the points deficit and was now five points ahead of Van de Ven in the championship chase with just one race to go .
A sensible , no-risk approach to the final race earned Duncan a third placing and , with that , she won the world title for 2020 . Duncan and Van de Ven were equal on points at the end of the 2020 series , but Duncan was awarded the title on the “ count-back rule ”, Duncan recording five races win to the Dutch rider ’ s three . That made it three world championship wins in a row in 2021 , wrapping it up at the final round in Italy . Duncan scored her fourth overall victory of the season at the Grand Prix of Trentino , the sixth and final round of the 2021 WMX world series . The 25-year-old went into the final round holding a 16-point lead in the series , but she was also carrying a painful injury after suffering a broken finger the previous weekend in Spain . She remained calm through the always hectic opening lap of race one to settle into an initial eighth place before starting to pick off the girls ahead of her one-by-one . After four laps she was already third and , with her closest rival at the start of the day also encountering misfortune on the opening lap , the successful title defence was looming closer as she set
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