Knight Makes the Best of the Worst

Rain plagued the riders all day as the track slowly deteriorated from the rush of water that turned an already muddy track into an even worse wreck as the riders lined up for the start of the event. Despite the horrible track conditions, Knight and his Red Bull KTM teammate, Nathan Kanney, had great starts as they both came around the first corner inside the top three.

Both riders swapped 2nd and 3rd position through the first two laps of the race. Unfortunately, Kanney's day ended on the end of the third lap when his bike seized after too much water found its way into the airbox from the many creek crossings and hard rain fall the riders were dealing with throughout the day. Kanney's early departure from the race still earned him 14th overall. Meanwhile, his teammate Knight, who was also slowed up by the mud, managed to finish 5 laps finishing 4th overall on a day when many managed not to finish at all. Now six rounds into the season, Knight still holds a commendable points lead.

In the XC-2 class, Justin Williamson, got off to a great start and was running in 4th position when he got stuck in a creek crossing with other riders on the first lap. The amount of water that was sucked into his bike caused the bike to stop running. He had to be towed off which ended his day early resulting in a DNF. "The track was pretty beat up and lines were running all over the place. There was a lot of water on the track and where water wasn't flowing across, mud was. I was upset that my race ended early, but we will come back stronger at the next event," commented Williamson after the event.

Next Event: The Spartan - Sparta, KY - June 1, 2008

Results
POS. RIDER MANUFACT. NAT.

1 6 Paul Whibley Suzuki
2 8 Joshua Strang Suzuki
3 4 Jim Jarrett Suzuki
4 12 Thaddeus Duvall Yamaha
5 14 Scott Watkins Kawasaki
7 1 David Knight KTM

Standings
POS. RIDER MANUFACT. NAT. POINTS

1 1 David Knight KTM 155
2 6 Paul Whibley Suzuki 118
3 8 Joshua Strang Suzuki 108
4 4 Jim Jarrett Suzuki 99
5 3 Charles Mullins Suzuki 97
6 116 Nathan Kanney KTM 85
25 11 Justin Williamson KTM 9

David Knight:
“Considering everything that happened during the race finishing fourth is pretty good. I really enjoyed the track and the conditions, it’s just disappointing that we had some problems that prevented me from winning. I felt really good and at one stage I closed down a two-minute gap on the leaders in half a lap - like I said it’s just frustrating that I wasn’t able to turn that into a winning result. At least I still have a good lead in the championship.

“We’re not sure exactly what the problem was but it seemed like water was getting into the engine. Right off the start my bike stopped, which put me back in the pack. That was about three miles into the race. I managed to work my way forwards pretty well but the bike was popping and banging whenever I got into the ruts filled with water.

“Lap two went well and I made up ground on the leaders but I got redirected around one of the really difficult sections of the track and found Paul Whibley coming towards me. I don’t know where I was but I lost a lot of time and ended up coming back to the section of track I was pointed away from. I managed to catch back up again but then my bike started stopping again.

“Eventually, on lap five, it stopped completely. I wasn’t too far from the pits so the team managed to get the bike back to the truck and running again. I rode the last lap but because the team helped me get the bike back to the truck I was only credited with having finished five laps. Luckily, because so many other riders went out, I still finished fourth. I really enjoyed the conditions but I guess it wasn’t my weekend. All things considered it ended up ok.”