Knight starts Snow' storm
By TMX Archives on 18th Sep 08
RED Bull KTM Off Road Race Team rider David Knight took a decisive step towards claiming the 2008 US Grand National Cross Country series title with a hard-fought win at the tenth round of the championship the Snowshoe GNCC, staged in West Virginia.
The first event of the 2008 series after the long summer break, The Snowshoe GNCC was a race the Isle of Man ace was expected to win having dominated the event in '07.
Although making it two wins from two starts, things ran far from smoothly for David as he was forced to work is way to the front of the XC1 Pro class after a disappointing start. Stalling his bike in the first turn, Knighter set off 15th and with a great deal of work to do at the start of the six-lap race. Feeling ill during much of the opening two laps David worked his way forwards despite one or two scary high-speed moments and hit the front on lap two. Dropping back to second on lap three David returned to the front on lap four and maintained his position at the head of the XC1 Pro class.
Knight has extended his lead at the top of the XC1 Pro class and now has a mathematical chance of winning his second consecutive US GNCC title at the next round of the series – The Unadilla GNCC, NY.
Said David: "Things didn't exactly go to plan but I won the race, which is the most important thing as far as the championship is concerned. After I stalled my bike in the first turn about three rows of riders passed me before I got going. Once I got going I felt terrible. I'm not sure if it was something I ate in the morning but I felt better once I'd thrown up.”
"The course was completely different to last year. Last year it was great – technical, challenging and demanding, this year most of the hard bits were on the downhills and there was a lot of fast forest tracks. Early in the race I hit a rock and completely lost control for a moment.
"I was absolutely flat out so I must have been doing at least 80 miles-per-hour. I missed hitting a tree by, well, by nothing. It scared the hell out of me and it took a while before I was completely settled after that.
"Despite having a few other problems things got better towards the end of the race. I worked my way to the front and was just glad when the race was over.”
RESULTS
Overall: 1 David Knight (Red Bull KTM Off Road Team), 2 Paul Whibley (Suzuki), 3 Nate Kanney (KTM), 4 Jesse Robinson (Kawasaki), 5 Barry Hawk (Yamaha), 6 Josh Strang (Suzuki).