Knight’s Karlsborg hangover

Thousands of enduro fans descended on the small town of Karlsborg, for an event which was typically Scandinavian, with a long and demanding enduro test and tough time controls. 

 

Despite heavy rain prior to the event, the two days of competition remained largely rain-free, much to the delight of the competitors.

 

David Knight was hoping to build on the Enduro 3 class win he secured at the GP of Italy – but the Swedish event brought few positives for Britain's only senior EWC competitor. 

 

Despite managing to top the E3 class during the Friday night super test, and dominate the man-made extreme test on both days, Knight placed a lowly 10th in class on day one. 

 

With his bike lacking power the problem was traced to a faulty reed block, which was changed at the end of the day.

 

Forced to make do, with each passing lap Knight's pace suffered more and more.

 

"I was running a different engine for this event and during the pre-race test sessions everything felt okay, but once the race began the engine lost power,” said Knight.

 

"Once conditions became rougher I began to suffer and dropped off the pace. It turned out that the reed block had broken and with no time to change it I carried on as best I could to score some points.”

 

Day two ended with a notably better result but frustratingly no podium finish.

 

Again dominating the extreme test, Knight was unable to match the pace of team-mate Christophe Nambotin on the enduro test. 

 

"On day two it took a bit of time to get the bike re-jetted to suit the conditions, but in the end I was able to improve my speed,” he added. "It's disappointing as my pace was really fast in the extreme test and again on the cross test.”

 

Of the two-stroke mounted E3 class racers Nambotin enjoyed the best weekend, claiming a comfortable win on day one, before coming out on top of a battle for the win with Estonia's Aigar Leok on day two. 

 

Newly crowned European Enduro Champion Aigar Leok set the pace on the secoond day and looked to be heading for victory. 

 

But a fall on the final enduro test cost him dearly and Nambotin is now in a position to secure the E3 world title in Finland next weekend.

 

In Enduro 1, KTM's Antoine Meo again flexed his race winning muscles, claiming two convincing victories. 

 

Despite suffering with flu, the super-fast Frenchman did enough to stay ahead of countryman Fabien Planet on day one, 

before topping the E1 class again on day two. 

 

Extending his championship lead, Meo is also in a position to secure the world title in Finland.

 

Day two saw Meo back to his best, stretching his winning advantage to more than 30 seconds, while Thomas Oldrati improved on his day one result to claim the runner-up spot and Remes made it onto the podium in third.

 

Joining the E1 class in Sweden was former seven-time world champion Anders Eriksson. 

 

Leader of the Swedish E1 championship, Anders placed 10th and ninth respectively over the two days and thoroughly enjoyed his return to EWC racing.

 

With Finland's E1 class riders failing to perform on day one it was left to Juha Salminen to uphold national honours, as he powered his way to a winning result in the Enduro 2 class on his Husqvarna. 

 

Day One

Enduro 1: 1 Antoine Meo (KTM), 2 Fabien Planet (Sherco), 3 Thomas Oldrati (KTM), 4 Matti Seistola (Husqvarna), 5 Eero Remes (KTM), 6 Rodrig Thain (Honda), 7 Lorenzo Santolino (Husqvarna), 8 Roni Nikander (KTM). 9 Jakob Morhed (Honda), 10 Anders Eriksson (Yamaha).

Enduro 2: 1 Juha Salminen (Husqvarna), 2 Pela Renet (Husaberg), 3 Cristobal Guerrero (KTM), 4 Johnny Aubert (KTM), 5 Ivan Cervantes (Gas Gas), 6 Alex Salvini (Husqvarna), 7 Antoine Basset (Yamaha), 8 Oscar Balletti (Beta), 9 Hans Vogels (Husaberg), 10 Luis Correia (Yamaha).

Enduro 3: 1 Christophe Nambotin (KTM), 2 Aigar Leok (TM), 3 Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg), 4 Manuel Monni (KTM), 5 Marko Tarkkala (Beta), 6 Oriol Mena (Husaberg), 7 Sebastien Guillaume (Gas Gas), 8 Marcus Kehr (KTM), 9 Christophe Robert (Husaberg), 10 DAVID KNIGHT (KTM).

Enduro Junior: 1 Mathias Bellino (Husaberg), 2 Jonathan Manzi (KTM), 3 Johan Edlund (Husaberg), 4 DANIEL McCANNEY (Gas Gas), 5 Edoardo D'Ambrosio (KTM), 6 Robert Kvarnstrom (Beta), 7 ALEX ROCKWELL (Husaberg), 8 Rudy Moroni (KTM), 9 Kevin Rohmer (Yamaha), 10 Martin Sundin (Husaberg). 

Enduro Youth Cup: 1 Giacomo Redondi (KTM), 2 Matteo Bresolin (Husaberg), 3 Oliver Nelson (KTM), 4 JAMIE McCANNEY (Husaberg), 5 Albin Elowson (Husaberg), 6 Erik Ljungberg (KTM), 7 Anton Sandstedt (Husaberg), 8 Lars Lofgren (Husaberg), 9 Jesper Borjersson (Husaberg), 10 Adam Brostrom (KTM). 

Enduro 1: 1 Antoine Meo (KTM), 2 Thomas Oldrati (KTM), 3 Eero Remes (KTM), 4 Fabien Planet (Sherco), 5 Lorenzo Santolino (Husqvarna), 6 Simone Albergoni (HM Honda), 7 Rodrig Thain (HM Honda), 8 Roni Nikander (KTM), 9 Anders Eriksson (Yamaha), 10 Matti Seistola (Husqvarna). 

Enduro 2: 1 Pela Renet (Husaberg), 2 Juha Salminen (Husqvarna), 3 Alex Salvini (Husqvarna), 4 Cristobal Guerrero (KTM), 5 Johnny Aubert (KTM), 6 Luis Correia (Yamaha), 7 Antoine Basset (Yamaha), 8 Hans Vogels (Husaberg), 9 Jeff Goblet (Yamaha), 10 Olle Lothman (Beta).

Enduro 3: 1 Christophe Nambotin (KTM), 2 Aigar Leok (TM), 3 Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg), 4 DAVID KNIGHT (KTM), 5 Manuel Monni (KTM), 6 Marko Tarkkala (Beta), 7 Oriol Mena (Husaberg), 8 Marcus Kehr (KTM), 9 Sebastien Guilluame (Gas Gas), 10 Jonas Karlsson (KTM).

Enduro Junior: 1 Mathias Bellino (Husaberg), 2 Daniel McCanney (Gas Gas), 3 Robert Kvarnstrom (Beta), 4 Jonathan Manzi (KTM), 5 Rudy Moroni (KTM), 6 Johan Edlund (Husaberg), 7 Linus Fasth (KTM), 8 Edoardo D'Ambrosio (KTM), 9 ALEX ROCKWELL (Husaberg), 10 Kevin Benavides (KTM).

Enduro Youth Cup: 1 Giacomo Redondi (KTM), 2 Oliver Nelson (KTM), 3 JAMIE McCANNEY (Husaberg), 4 Matteo Bresolin (Husaberg), 5 Albin Elowson (Husaberg), 6 Lars Lofgren (Husaberg), 7 Jesper Borjersson (Husaberg), 8 Erik Ljungberg (KTM), 9 Adam Brostrom (KTM), 10 Nicolo Bruschi (Honda).