Knight crowned '09 champ
By TMX Archives on 5th Aug 09
A new-look Dyfi Enduro returned to the British Enduro Championship at the weekend where heavy rain prior to the event, and during the first day, made for an extremely demanding opening day.Kawasaki new boy David Knight was one of only a few riders to make light work of the conditions and in topping both days wrapped up the 2009 British title early, due to the cancellation of the Rhayader Enduro later this month.
THEY say you can't plan the weather but the one thing the MWTRA organised Dyfi Enduro needed to ensure their return to the British Enduro Championship went smoothly was fine weather, and they didn't get it. As has happened time and time again the good old British weather did its best to disrupt the proceedings of a BEC event, making the opening day of the Dyfi anything but easy.
At the top of the Championship class David Knight stamped his authority on things with two convincing day wins. Looking much more settled on his new machine, and considerable faster than he was at the Knighton Enduro, Knight was one of just six Championship class riders to remain clean on time on day one. Winning each of the three special tests – that numerous Championship class riders commented was the best British Champion-ship test for a few years – Knight topped the results ahead of Tom Sagar on day one. Putting his Knighton Enduro disappointments behind him Tom claimed his best BEC result this season aboard his Husaberg, just ahead of Paul Edmondson.
With Eddy not able to set the pace as he had at the previous round, he might well have claimed the runner-up spot if he hadn't stalled his bike a few times. One of the stand-out results in the Championship class on day one was that of Gas Gas rider Ashley Wood. Matching Edmondson's time on the opening test, Wood battled on to claim a well-deserved fourth overall.
Although not the fastest Enduro 1 rider on the special tests Edward Jones topped E1 on day one, due largely to the fact that both Daryl Bolter and Greg Evans dropped one-minute each. Stuck behind slower riders both were less than pleased to have lost time, which dropped them down the results.
Irishman Gordon Clarke topped Enduro 3 on his TM, despite dropping three minutes. Due to the severity of the conditions, and the damage being done to the course, the opening day was reduced from four laps to three for the Championship class.
Thankfully the weather changed for the second day and it remained dry all day. With check times eased and changes made to both the course and the special test it was again Knight who topped the Championship class, and in doing so claimed yet another overall BEC title.
"It's always good to win a championship, but it's a shame that the Rhayader has been cancelled,” commented David. "I've really enjoyed the event and the test was great. The first day was difficult, but all in all everything went well for me. The special test had a little bit of everything, which was exactly what I needed ahead of the final WEC rounds.”
Daryl Bolter finished as runner-up to David on his 250F KTM. Although stripping his gearbox sprocket of all it's teeth on the very last test after a stone jammed under his chain, Bolter produced his best result of the series so far and finished as the best E1 class rider.
"I'm not sure what was wrong at the Knighton Enduro,” explained Bolter, "I just wasn't with it all weekend. I went back to a bike set-up that I know for the Dyfi and it worked perfectly. I was really disappointed that I lost time on day one but day two went really well.”
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2009
METZLER BRITISH ENDURO CHAMPS
Rd 3 – Barnett Dyfi Enduro at Esgairwian, Llanwnog, nr Machynlleth (Mid Wales TRA Ltd)
Saturday
Championship (Overall): 1 David Knight (Kawasaki), 2 Tom Sagar (Husaberg), 3 Paul Edmondson (Suzuki), 4 Ashley Wood (Gas Gas), 5 Edward Jones (KTM), 6 Daryl Bolter (KTM), 7 Greg Evans (KTM), 8 Ollie Moyce (Husaberg), 9 Dylan Jones (Yamaha), 10 Gordon Clarke (TM), 11 Robert Jones (Yamaha), 12 David Brick (Yamaha), 13 Jamie Paget (TM), 14 Andrew Edwards (KTM), 15 Kev Murray (Yamaha).
Expert (Overall): 1 Rheinallt Davies, 2 Richard Elwood, 3 Tudar Davies, 4 Derek Little, 5 David Myers, 6 Matt Ridgeway, 7 Ben Begbie, 8 David Wood, 9 Harry Hillas, 10 Aled Humphreys, 11 David Lloyd-Jones, 12 Neil Chatham, 13 Owain Humphreys, 14 Steve Hunt, 15 Richard Ely.
Clubman (Overall): 1 Gareth Davies, 2 Charlie Evans, 3 Frazer Norrie, 4 Calum Hicks, 5 Ryan Golding, 6 Dan Lowry, 7 Mark Kennard, 8 Ioan Jones, 9 Keith Wooster, 10 Craig Altass, 11 Mike Evans, 12 Darren Williams, 13 Aled Jones, 14 Robbie Turner, 15 Marc Evans.
Veteran: 1 Carl Tiley, 2 Murray Thompson, 3 Karl Greenall, 4 Neil Williams, 5 Adrian Lappin, 6 Mark Houson, 7 Julian Rigby, 8 214, 9 Dave Coles, 10 Nick Smalley.
Sunday
Championship (Overall): 1 David Knight (Kawasaki), 2 Daryl Bolter (KTM), 3 Tom Sagar (Husaberg), 4 Greg Evans (KTM), 5 Paul Edmondson (Suzuki), 6 Ashley Wood (Gas Gas), 7 Edward Jones (KTM), 8. Lee Edmondson (Honda), 9 Jamie Paget (TM), 10 Paul Bolton (KTM), 11 Gordon Clarke (TM), 12 Ollie Moyce (Husaberg), 13 Robert Jones (Yamaha), 14 Dylan Jones (Yamaha), 15 Kev Murray (Yamaha).
Expert (Overall): 1 Rheinallt Davies, 2 Matt Ridgeway, 3 Mark Roberts, 4 Tudur Davies, 5 Harry Hillas, 6 David Myers, 7 Derek Little, 8 David Lloyd-Jones, 9 Steve Hunt, 10 Lewis Belfield.
Clubman (Overall): 1 Gareth Davies, 2 Frazer Norrie, 3 Calum Hicks, 4 Ryan Golding, 5 Dan Lowry, 6 Mark Kennard, 7 Mike Evans, 8 Ioan Jones, 9 Robbie Turner, 10 Matthew Willey.
Veteran: 1 Carl Tiley, 2 Mark Houson, 3 Murray Thompson, 4 Karl Greenall, 5 Adrian Lappin, 6 Neil Williams, 7 Gary Newman, 8 Julian Rigby, 9 Chris Roberts.
In the Expert class Rheinallt Davies mastered the slippery special test giving him a commanding lead as he took the overall on both days.