Knight conquers the first Metzeler ACU Enduro
By TMX Archives on 24th Feb 09
The Diss Motorcycle Club hosted a successful opening round of the Metzeler ACU British Enduro Championship at Thetford Forest in Suffolk with David Knight on the BMW taking the overall win.
Teams and riders arrived on Saturday to set-up for the Muntjac Enduroas the event is known and expectations were high as riders walked thefast and flowing Special test in unexpected sunshine.
With an array of many new and superbly prepared machines outside theteam vans and with quite a few riders having switched marques for the2009 season, everyone knew that the next day would prove how the wintertesting, training and preparation had really gone.
There was a full entry of 236 riders and with current GNCC Championand former World Enduro Champion David Knight out for his first BritishEnduro Championship ride on his new BMW, most of the predictions aroundthe paddock was really about whom people thought would finish runnerup.
By 0900 on Sunday the Championship riders were attacking theirfirst Special test of the day and it was soon apparent that much ofthat talk had been premature, as it was Ed Jones (KTM) who set thepace. Si Wakely on his MPS Husqvarna managed to better this by 0.5secsand David Knight on the BMW had to settle for third spot.
As the Championship riders set off on the 22-mile lap of fast andbumpy forest tracks, the Expert and Clubman riders rode the Specialtest which was becoming more challenging due to berms and rutsdeveloping.
An hour later they were back for Test two and this time FrenchmanRod Thain, who was a front runner in the 2008 World Series showed hisform and set the fastest time. Si Wakely was only 0.015secs slower andstill looked to be in control. Last year's British Champion Tom Sagar(Husaberg) had settled down and posted the third fastest time withKnighter having to settle for fifth place.
After six gruelling laps, only 10 riders were still clean on timeand with all the top runners among these, the final test would be thedecider.
Wakely was the overall leader by 3.4secs when he entered the testbut an engine stall cost a little time and brought the competitionright down to the wire. Daryl Bolter (KTM) was very fast, as was AstonBird (MPS Husky) and Sagar. Paul Edmondson (Suzuki) had picked up paceand set his fastest time of the day – but the crowd awaited the ManxmanDavid Knight to see if he could pull it back.
And save it he did – a blistering Test took 6secs from Wakely andgave Knighter the first BMW British Championship win by just 3.2secover the whole day. It was disappointing for Wakely who had done somuch but he knew that it would always be tough. However to push Knightso hard and close showed that the team effort over the winter had paidoff.
In the Expert Class Matt Ridgeway (Suzuki) took the win over GavinHouson (MPS Husky) and Mark Roberts (Kawasaki), while the Clubmen wereled home by Gareth Davies (KTM) from Frazer Norrie (KTM) and KalemHicks (Yamaha).
The fiercely contested Veteran class was won by Murray Thompson on his KTM from Carl Tiley (KTM) and Jack Twentyman (Yamaha).
The event was well organised and once more Diss Motorcycle club staged the best possible season opener.
Many of the Championship runners will now be looking toward theWorld and European Championships over next few months and it will notbe until the summer months that the Metzler ACU campaign starts again.The next round will be held on the 11th-12th July at Knighton in Wales.
Results:
1: David Knight 480 BMW 874.86secs
2: Si Wakely 450 Husqvarna 878.06secs
3: Tom Sagar 450 Husaberg 885.79secs
4: Daryl Bolter 250 KTM 885.97secs
5: Paul Edmondson 250 Suzuki 887.39secs
6: Aston Bird 250 Husqvarna 901.18secs