She will be the first to admit that — but maybe things are changing.
The Dunedin rider finished second in both races, and second overall, in the penultimate round of the FIM women’s motocross world championship on a tough sand circuit in Arnhem, Netherlands, at the weekend.
Duncan, who has put in the hard yards on sand at her base in the Netherlands with her F&H racing team, now sits seventh overall in the WMX championship standings.
It was a good bounce back for Duncan, who finished 14th overall in Maggiora after a heavily weather-affected round five in June and missed round four after having knee surgery.
Home hero Lotte Van Drunen won both races in Arnhem to extend her championship lead.
Van Drunen, dubbed the "Queen of the Sand", took the lead at the first turn on race one ahead of Dutch rider Lynn Valk, but Duncan quickly took second spot on the inside of Valk.
Van Drunen kept a two-second gap on Duncan, but the Dunedin rider reminded the young gun why she was the four-time world champion.
On lap eight Duncan reduced the gap to one second and on lap nine she sat alongside Van Drunen and tested her all the way.
The Dutch took advantage of the back markers to increase the gap between the charging Duncan to 2.5-seconds and fly to victory.
In the second race, Van Drunen took the holeshot to lead the race and later created a four-second gap between her and Valk.
Duncan fought back to second with a good flow while Valk came under pressure
Van Drunen extended her margin on Duncan to 6.9-seconds on lap six, and looked strong, but Duncan then had a late charge to increase the pace at the beginnng of the final lap.
She raced hard to get a shot at the overall win, but Van Drunen held strong to finish first ahead of Duncan.
Duncan will be back in action for the final round in Turkey on September 7-8.
