Courtney Duncan still leads the Women’s Motocross World Championships standings despite not winning a race on the latest stop.
Duncan finished fourth and second in the two races on the sandy Valkensward track in the Netherlands round of the WMX.
The Palmerston rider admitted she never liked losing but sometimes it happened.
"It was a difficult weekend for me.
"From winning a lot lately you realise that losing isn’t fun.
"I got beaten straight up this weekend and it hurt. Nothing like a little motivation moving forward though," she said.
A fourth in the first race in was not the way the defending champion wanted to start her weekend.
"They really checked out on me as well. I didn’t have a great feeling but I didn’t do anything stupid. When I wasn’t feeling good, I just took a fourth,"
She did not force the race. With six-time WMX winner Italy’s Kiara Fontanesi first to the chequered flag, followed by Duncan’s other main rivals, Dutchwoman Nancy Van De Ven in second and Germans Larissa Papenmeier, rounding out the podium, Duncan had some ground to make up in the second race.
"Obviously, it fired me up. I had a better day and got second. For me, to be able to turn a really bad day around yesterday, to a somewhat good day today, is a real positive."
Papenmeier won the second race and Van De Ven was a close third. The results after the Netherlands round mean Kawasaki Dixon Race Team rider Duncan still leads by five points on 90, from Papenmeier on 85 and Fontenesi a further five back on 80.
Duncan (24) now flies home to New Zealand to continue her training in between races.
The Spanish round is next on April 18-19.
However, she is not going to beat herself up about the fourth overall finish for the second round.
"You can’t always win. It was just one of those days and one of those weekends where I got beaten by better competition on the day.
"I don’t need to worry too much about it, as we knew these conditions were going to be tough for me. The wet heavy sand has never been one of my strong points. I definitely need to work on that area."
She said her opponents had the advantage of training on the tracks in the off season when she was back home.
However, Duncan is not too disheartened.
"We are in a good position and we have a big break now, so I can get some solid time in. There’s plenty of positives to take away from the weekend.
"If you look at last year, I left Valkensward five points down and this year I still have a five-point lead in the championship. We made the best out of a bad weekend."
