Reigning World Enduro Champion and current championship leader of the 2007 American Grand National Cross Country Series (GNCC), David Knight, has claimed motorcycling manufacturer KTM its second consecutive outright win at the Australian Four Day Enduro (A4DE).
Held from 5 to 8 July in Coffs Harbour NSW, David Knight was amongst many highly acclaimed riders eager for their place on the podium at the prestigious event.
Knight, from the Isle of Man in the UK, arrived in Australia only days before the event, with little time to acclimatise, overcome jetlag and prepare. Bike time was also limited for Knight, with only 30 minutes of testing available on his chosen machine, the 2007 model KTM 450 EXC.
An end result of consistency and experience paid off for Knight as he took the top podium position for the outright win over Chris Hollis in second, and Stefan Merriman in third.
Commenting on his victory David Knight said, ‰ÛÏLast year Juha Salminen from Finland won the outright title for KTM, so I‰Ûªm thrilled to back up his win with another crown for KTM.
‰ÛÏOn the opening day of the event, I eased my way into racing whilst trying to acclimatise to the time difference and race plan which saw me in third place by days end.
‰ÛÏBy day two, I had picked up and took the lead but I had some stiff competition from Stefan Merriman and AJ Roberts, who were equally as determined to take the title. On day three I increased my lead even further, but times were still relatively close and I knew it was the motocross section on the last day that would decide the winner.
‰ÛÏThe final day consisted of a trail ride to the local Coffs Harbour motocross circuit. Before our bikes went into Parc Ferme the sun was shinning and there wasn‰Ûªt a cloud in the sky, so the KTM 450 EXC had been prepared with a dry weather set up.
‰ÛÏBy the afternoon the weather had turned and rain had set in. Once the bikes are locked up in Parc Ferme there is no option to work on the motorcycle again, so I was stuck with a dry weather set up, in wet conditions and I knew I would be in for a challenging last ride.
‰ÛÏThe motocross circuit was extremely slippery and I had to play it safe and ride consistently without error to maintain my lead, if I came down and lost 30 seconds I would have lost the outright win.
‰ÛÏOther competitors were falling around me and even though I struggled with the dry weather set up, I held it on with no crashes to take the win for KTM.‰Û
