David Knight dominates at the BEC opener

KTM Enduro Factory Team rider, David Knight, has claimed victory at the opening round of the 2011 Metzeler ACU British Enduro Championship — the one-day Muntjac Enduro organised by Diss MCC. Always a physically and mentally demanding event, Knight well and truly stamped his authority on the proceedings by not only winning all of the five timed special tests but also by finishing the event as the only Championship class rider to remain on time and not collecting any penalties.

Making a great start to the one-day event Knight topped the opening special test by some eight seconds — the biggest winning margin the Manxman has ever claimed on the opening test at the Muntjac Enduro. Going on to then top the second, third, and fourth tests on the fifth and final timed test Knight showed that the rougher the terrain gets the better it is for him as he again topped the time sheets by a considerable margin.

The fastest rider of the event around the sandy special test, Knight also showed his true class by finishing the event as the only Championship class rider to remain on time. With nothing decided at the Muntjac Enduro until the end of the very last time control Knight was the only rider to complete the course without collecting any time penalties. As such he topped the event by over one-and-a-half minutes to take an early lead in the ’11 BEC series standings.

Knight now heads to the States for 10 days of warm weather training in Florida before continuing his Enduro World Championship preparations by returning to the UK to compete in rounds three and four of the British Sprint Enduro Championship on March 19/20.

David Knight: ‘I’m really pleased with the way the event went. It’s always a tough one-day race and I normally find it hard because you can’t attack the special tests properly because they’re relatively short and mistakes are hard to recover from. But I really felt relaxed this year. The first test was slippery, but I put in a good time that meant I had a decent lead straight away. After that I just made sure I didn’t make any mistakes and towards the end of the event I got a couple more good tests in. I did some riding and testing in Spain the week before the event so I was looking forward to trying out some of the changes we made to the new bike, and they worked well. I head to the States for 10 days of riding now before more testing and racing back in Europe.’

2011 British Enduro Championship

Rnd 1, Muntjac Enduro – Championship class

1. David Knight (KTM Enduro Factory Team) 1488.33
2. Alex Rockwell (Husaberg) 1588.51
3. Paul Edmondson (KTM) 1608.50
4. Greg Evans (KTM) 1615.59
5. Si Wakely (Husaberg) 1643.64
6. Tom Sagar (KTM) 1663.16
7. Ashley Wood (KTM) 1684.63
8. Ben Burrell (KTM) 1691.66
9. Daryl Bolter (KTM) 1713.22
10. Jamie Lewis (KTM) 1791.14