More fists full of dollars
By TMX Archives on 22nd Nov 07
LESS than one month after claiming the 2007 US GNCC title, Britain's David Knight secured a second AMA title when he clinched the 'Endurocross crown at the third and final round of the three-event championship in Las Vegas.
Despite not winning the final Poland's risingExtreme and Indoor enduro star Taddy Blazusiak did that Knight becamethe most successful rider in the history of the Stateside indoorseries, having now claimed two Endurocross titles...
Words and Pictures: JONTY EDMUNDS
BRITAIN'S David Knight claimed his second AMAsanctioned off-road championship of 2007 last weekend when the factoryKTM rider clinched this year's Endurocross title with a second placefinish at the final round of the series held at the Orleans Arena, LasVegas.
The winner of the opening two rounds of thechampionship, staged in Colorado and Oklahoma, Knight arrived in LasVegas knowing that a third consecutive win would see him take home acool $60,000 - $10,000 for winning the race and an additional $50,000for completing the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute sponsored triplecrown prize.
But things didn't quite go to plan for knight asPoland's Taddy Blazusiak, who won this year's Erzberg Rodeo harescramble race, topped the eight-lap main event with Knight finishingsecond and Finland's Mika Ahola placing third to make it anall-European podium.
With an eight-point championship lead going intothe event, David's closest rival was former US Supercross championDamon Huffman. A newcomer to Endurocross racing this year, theKawasaki-mounted rider struggled with the track's two rock sections andonly just made it through to the main event via the LCQ. Surprisingly'06 Endurocross champion John Dowd failed to make the main event.
In the final, Knight took an early lead andquickly put distance between himself and the other nine riders. Havingrecorded the second fastest time during the qualifying session Davidwas clearly riding with a little more care than he normally does,obviously not wanting to risk damaging his bike or himself and throwingaway his chance to win the Endurocross championship.
Mid-way through the eight-lap race and Taddy hadclosed-in on the rear of Knighter with both riders comfortably ahead ofthe rest of the field. For two laps Taddy hounded him in every corner.Seemingly unsure who it was behind him initially, once Knight realisedit was Taddy, he purposely avoided getting drawn into a bar-bangingrace for the chequered flag and instead moved over to a wide line withone lap remaining allowing Taddy to move into the lead and go on andclaim the win.
That was one of the hardest races I've everdone, commented Knight from the podium. I couldn't push as hard as Iwanted to try and win the race because I knew winning the championshipwas more important. Taddy was riding really well, and bumped me in afew corners, but it was too risky for me to ride hard and start doingthe same one mistake Indoors and your race can be over. If that hadhappened then I could have lost the championship.
Winning the championship was more important thanwinning the race. Yeah, I'm pi**ed about not winning the money, whowouldn't be? Winning the GNCC and Endurocross championships in the sameyear is great, but tonight things didn't go the way I thought or hopedthey would.
While Knight was clearly unimpressed that he'dbeen put in the difficult situation of having to decide between eitherriding sensibly in order to win the championship or the somewhat riskybusiness of racing against another KTM-mounted rider in order to tryand win the $60,000, Taddy was clearly overjoyed to have claimed hisfirst ever Endurocross win.
LAS VEGAS ENDUROCROSS
Orleans Arena, Las Vegas
1 Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 8 laps
2 David KNIGHT (KTM) 8 laps
3 Mika Ahola (Honda) 8 laps
4 Colton Haaker (Montesa) 8 laps
5 Nick Bozobvich (Yamaha) 8 laps
6 Geoff Aaron (KTM) 8 laps
7 Destry Abbott (Kawasaki) 8 laps
8 Damon Huffman (Kawasaki) 8 laps
9 Mike Lafferty (KTM) 8 laps
10 Nate Kanney (KTM) 7 laps
See T+MX News, Friday, November 23, 2007 for full report and pictures.