Red Bull KTM Off Road Race Team rider David Knight has claimed what many believe is the largest win margin ever at a round of the US GNCC race series when the double Enduro 3 world champion finished close to 10 minutes ahead of his nearest rival at the Snow Shoe GNCC, staged at the Snow Show ski resort in deepest West Virginia.
Coming into the event with a slender lead in the championship‰Ûªs point standings Knight dominated the race from start to finish to claim his fourth win of the ‰Ûª07 season and place nine minutes and 48 seconds ahead of former GNCC series champion Barry Hawk.
With all competitors leaving the start five at a time in a ‰Û÷Blackwater 100‰Ûª style live engine start Knighter needed no time at all to move into the lead and started pulling away from the rest of the XC1 Pro class. With his confidence high having topped the seventh round of the series Knight found himself unsure whether he‰Ûªd taken a wrong turn mid-way through the opening lap and decided to stop and wait for his class mates to arrive, just to make sure he was headed in the correct direction. Ending the first lap comfortably ahead David then started opening up a commanding lead.
With each passing lap Knight edged further ahead as his rivals struggled to make their way passed lapped riders on many of the harder sections of the track. Needing to get off his 450cc KTM and push it to the top of the hardest climb on the track just once, such was Knight‰Ûªs dominance during the race he pulled two-and-a-half minutes over his nearest rival in a 30 meter section of track on lap two. Moving further and further ahead as the race progressed David claimed a deserved win to maintain his position at the top of the ‰Ûª07 US GNCC point standings.
‰ÛÏIt‰Ûªs great to head into the summer break having won this race," Knight said. "I was really looking forward to the Snow Show because I‰Ûªd heard that parts of the track would be really rocky, and I knew that would suit me. The race went perfectly for me, apart from thinking that I‰Ûªd gone the wrong way on the opening lap. I got into the lead pretty quickly and pushed hard to open up a gap, which I managed to do. A lot of the track was really fast but it was on the difficult sections where I made up my time. It was so important not to stop or get stuck.
‰ÛÏBy getting out front early on I was able to just think about the track. A lot of the other riders were trying to race each other, which made the track twice as difficult. I didn‰Ûªt have any problems at all during the race really. I really enjoyed the tough sections in the forest, you really had to think about your lines and watch out for the lappers.
‰ÛÏOnce I knew I had a good lead I really started to enjoy the race. Things didn‰Ûªt start as well as I hoped they would this season but I feel that I‰Ûªm riding well now. I think I enjoyed the Snow Shoe more than any other event this season, it was a real challenge. It‰Ûªs great to have finished so far ahead as well.‰Û
