David Knight has claimed his second XC1 Pro class win of ’08 with victory at The Steele Creek GNCC in North Carolina. With a win at round one and a third place finish at round two already to his credit Knight overcame a poor start as he rounded the first turn last to move into the lead on lap two. From that point on Knight charged towards his second race win in three ’08 US GNCC events.

Starting the third round of the championship as the only rider to have finished on the podium at the opening two rounds of the series, Knight, as he seemingly always does, made a complete mess of the start and rounded the first turn of the Steele Creek GNCC dead last in the XC1 Pro class. And just like he has done so many times before was forced to work his way passed all but a handful of his XC1 class rivals during the opening 22-minute lap.

Moving into the lead on lap two Knight stayed out front for the remainder of the seven-lap race claiming an eventual one-and-a-half minute winning advantage over Barry Hawk with Paul Whibley rounding off the podium in third. With three of the 13 ’08 US GNCC events now behind him Knight holds a 24-point advantage at the top of the XC1 Pro class series standings.

David Knight: “Apart from another bad start the race went well. I pushed hard during the first lap, like I seem to have to do at every race, and got pretty close to the guys at the front. Once I got passed Barry Hawk and Nate Kanney I tried to break away but I hit a tree so that didn’t really happen. It was pretty close for a few laps but about half way through the race I started to pull away. I tried to ride like I did at round two, using my head and making sure I stayed out of trouble, and things went ok.

“I felt good during the race. I tried a load of things on my bike after the second round and it’s even better now than it was at the first two races, so I’m really happy with that. With Hawk and Whibley being on the podium with me, and with Charlie Mullins finishing in sixth, I guess it’s good for my championship. I’m about 24 points ahead now so things are going well.”

Results – US GNCC ’08 Rnd 3, XC1 Pro class

1.     David Knight (KTM)
2.     Barry Hawk (Yamaha)
3.     Paul Whibley (Suzuki)
4.     Josh Strang (Suzuki)
5.     Jimmy Jarrett (Suzuki)
6.     Charlie Mullins (Suzuki)
7.     Nate Kanney (KTM)
8.     Jesse Robinson (Kawasaki)
9.     Louwens Mahoney (KTM)