David Knight has won his fourth championship in less than 12 months following a runner-up result at the third and final round of the ‘07/’08 Indoor Enduro World Cup, staged at the Palasport Fiera in Genoa. With the US GNCC, Australian Four Day Enduro and AMA Endurocross titles already his Knighter has now also became the first rider ever to win an indoor enduro championship in Europe having dominated the series that started in Barcelona, Spain before moving to Munich in Germany and then finally onto Genoa in Italy.

With a healthy championship lead coming into the final round of the first ever FIM sanctioned indoor enduro series Knight was confident of a good result, but more focused on adding the FIM Indoor Enduro World Cup to his AMA Endurocross title than winning the race. Recording a lap time almost three seconds faster than any other rider during the official timed practice session things looked good for Knight. Then going on to top his qualifying heat race, finishing ahead of indoor enduro newcomer Antoine Meo from France, Knight then saw things go from good to bad during his heat race.

Making several mistakes he struggled home in a lowly sixth place position, which meant that the pressure was on as his only chance of making it through to the final was via the Last Chance Qualification race. With just two riders eligible to pass through into the main from the LCQ Knight started steadily before working his way to the front, opening up a 13 second advantage, and going on to win the race. Despite having done things the hard way he was through to the final.

Knowing that he didn’t need to win the main event to win the IEWC Knight placed runner-up to Frenchman Antoine Meo, having come close to passing the Husqvarna rider on more than one occasion. Forced to line-up on the very outside of the start due to having to go through the LCQ to reach the final, David rounded the first corner fourth and was quickly up to third. Moving into the runner-up spot before the end of the first lap the Manxman held his position through the mid-way stage of the race and on the last lap all but past Meo through the tricky water section. Failing to find a way past David decided to settle for second, and in doing so deservedly claimed the ‘07/’08 Indoor Enduro World Cup.

David Knight: “Winning the Indoor Enduro World Cup, as well as the GNCC, Aussie four-day and the Endurocross championships, well, it’s great. It was tough tonight though. There was one rock on the last lap that I thought was going to take the chain off, so I was a bit lucky. It’s hard when there is a lot of pressure on you and I made things hard for myself by messing up my heat race. I knew I could win the LCQ easily but my heat race showed things can go wrong so easily. I made a few mistakes and just couldn’t get into a rhythm. It was a relief to finally get into the final.

“Although the final was straight after the LCQ I didn’t feel too bad, I just stayed behind Antoine Meo and kept him in sight. On the last lap I pushed to catch him. I was right on him in the water, but I was in the wrong gear and lost a bit of drive. That was the end of my chance of winning. If I had got him there I would have been all right, but second was all I needed to do and winning the championship, as well as having won the first two rounds of the series, is what I wanted to do. It feels great to have won another championship.”

Results – Genoa Indoor Enduro ’08

1. Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) 6 laps; 2. David Knight (Red Bull KTM Off Road Team) 6 laps; 3. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 6 laps; 4. Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 6 laps; 5. Fabio Mossini (Honda) 6 laps; 6. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 6 laps;  7. Simone Albergoni (Yamaha) 6 laps 8. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 6laps; 9. Sebastian Guillaume (Husqvarna) 6 laps; 10. Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 5 laps

Results – ‘07/’08 Indoor Enduro World Cup Final Championship Standings

1. David Knight (Red Bull KTM Off Road Team) 42 points; 2. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 23pts; 3.Mika Ahola (Honda) 22pts;  4. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 19pts; 5. Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 16pts; 6. Antoine Meo (Husqvarna) 15 pts; 7. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 10 pts; 8. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 8pts; 9. Gregory Eyries (Yamaha) 8pts; 10.Tom Sagar (KTM) 7pts; 11. Simone Albergoni (Yamaha) 7pts; 12.Fabio Mossini (Honda) 6ps; 13. Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 5pts; 14. Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 5pts; 15. Sebastian Guillaume (Husqvarna) 2pts; 16. Jonny Aubert (Yamaha) 2pts;Andreas Lettenbichler (BMW) 1pt