Knight start '11 in winning style
By TMX Archives on 24th Jan 11
Enduro 3 World Champion dominates first running of Eddy's Extreme Enduro Making his first competitive outing of 2011 David Knight made sure of a successful start to the new season by claiming the overall victory at the inaugural running of ‘Eddy's Extreme Race' - a new extreme enduro organised by former World Enduro Champion Paul Edmondson and staged near Leeds, Great Britain. Finishing ahead of Dougie Lampkin and Greg Evans come the end of the event Knight lead each of the two one-hour races from start to finish and placed comfortably ahead in both outings.
The fastest rider during the morning qualifying session Knight needed no time at all to open up a healthy lead at the front of the Pro class in race one. Despite losing some time on the second lap when he gat caught up on a large tree root he extended his lead lap on lap and come the end of the race placed ahead of Dougie Lampkin, Tom Sagar, Paul Bolton and Greg Evans.
Race two again saw Knight rocket into an immediate lead. With the track rougher and notably tougher than in the opening hour-long race David made sure he didn't make any mistakes during the opening laps, fending off his closest challenger Graham Jarvis. Remaining out front Knight claimed the chequered flag three minutes clear of Jarvis with Lampkin third to claim a deserved overall win.
David Knight: ‘It was a really good day for me - great training and an enjoyable way to start the year off. I knew that it was going to be pretty hard work, but apart from a few falls everything went well for me. The first race went really well. I lead from the start and could see that I was opening up a lead so I just tried to make no mistakes. On lap two I got stuck on a tree root and must have lost about 30 seconds. I pushed hard after that and everything went well. I felt good and really enjoyed it. The second race was much tougher. The holes between the rocks were deeper and the rocks themselves were much more slippery. Whenever I started to really push I started going backwards. I found a good pace and settle down once I knew I was a few minutes ahead. The track wasn't too hard, but there wasn't really anywhere you could take a break. The format of two one-hour races was good because it wasn't all down to just one result - you needed to do well on both occasions, which some riders weren't able to do. It's been a good start to the year and a really good event.'
Results - Eddy's Extreme Enduro 2011 Pro class
Overall top three
1. David Knight (KTM Enduro Factory Team)
2. Dougie Lampkin (Gas Gas)
3. Greg Evans (KTM)