Ups, downs and disappointment for Knight
By TMX Archives on 14th Oct 08
With the '08 US Grand National Cross Country title already his, having wrapped up a second consecutive US GNCC crown with victory at round 11 of this year's championship, David Knight turned his attentions to the infamous Weston Beach Race this past weekend, where once again he entered both the quad and solo classes. Last competing in '06 when he won the solo class Knight's goal for '08 was to try and do the double and win both classes.
Competingin the quad race first, Knight's just for fun' outing saw him finish fourth.Running at the front of the race the Manxman lead for a while but during theclosing stages of the three-hour event an intermittent fault saw his bike cutout on several occasions, which slowed his process. Despite his problem Knightstill completed 17 laps and missed the podium just by one position.
Theserious stuff came during the solo event the race Knight hoped to win.Starting well and claiming the holeshot the KTM rider spent much of the firsthour racing against New Zealand's Josh Coppins. Forced to catch back up toCoppins and then race leader Stefan Everts after his bike wouldn't startfollowing the first round of pit stops, Knight rode hard during the second hourand lead the race after the second refuelling stop. Opening up a 30 second leadas the race neared it's close, with 40 minutes remaining Knight's bike stoppedand refused to start for one-minute. Dropping back to second and behind Everts,David again pushed hard and closed back in on the Belgian. Disappointingly,Knight's bike stopped again shortly after, which put his out of the race.Having competed 15 laps Knight was credited with 13th position.
David Knight: Because I was unable tocompete at Weston last year I was really looking forward to this year's event.It's just too bad that both races weren't two hours long as I'd have won bothif they were. The quad event was just a bit of fun. It was going really wellbut I'm not sure if I got some water in my fuel or what because near the end ofthe race my bike started to cut out. Like I said it was just a bit of fun, so Iwasn't too worried about it. Fourth's not too bad, but it could have been a winif I'd had a little luck on my side.
Not finishing thesolo event is really disappointing. I was really pleased with the way I rode,enjoyed battling with Josh Coppins more than any other race I've ever done, Ijust can't believe that having done the hard work and got into the lead it allended with me finishing down in 13th. I made a great start but thendecided to follow Everts and Coppins for the opening lap. We all broke awayfrom the others and I had such a laugh racing with Josh. We kept passing eachother for about an hour. My first pit stop went well but my bike didn't startso I had to bump start it, which meant I was about 50 seconds behind Evertsthen. By the second pit stop I was right with him and coming out of thefuelling area I was leading.
With about 40 minutesto go I was about 30 seconds ahead. That's when my bike stalled and it took meabout one-minute to get going again. Everts past me and although I was closingin on him my bike stopped again close to the pits and that was that. I'm notsure what the problem was but I was out of the race. Weston is hard on bikesbut my motor was running well until it stalled the first time.
Results '08 Weston Beach Race (Solo)
1. Stefan Everts (KTM) 18laps
2. Shaun Simpson (KTM) 18laps
3. Jamie Lewis (Honda) 18laps
13. DavidKnight (Red Bull KTM Off Road Team) 15 laps
Results '08 Weston Beach Race (Quads)
1. Jeremy Warnia (Suzuki) 17laps
2. John Mitchell (Yamaha) 17laps
3. Carl Bunce (Suzuki) 17laps
4. DavidKnight (Red Bull KTM Off Road Team) 17 laps
www.knighter.net