David Knight wins US GNCC in South Carolina
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Finally the wait is over. Four rounds into the ’07 US Grand National cross Country Series and Red Bull KTM Off Road Race Team rider David Knight has claimed his first win of the season by topping the podium at the Big Buck GNCC in South Carolina. Despite getting the worst possible start when his factory KTM failed to instantly fire into life when the starter’s flag dropped, Knight then crashed in the first turn when he hit a fallen rider. Quickly on his way Knight all but reached the front of the XC1 Pro class in less than one lap before waiting until the last lap of the race to edge ahead and claim a solid win over Yamaha team mates Charlie Mullins and Barry Hawk. In winning the race Knighter closes to within just seven points of current GNCC series leader Garrett Edmisten. Determined to end his run of disappointing results, and with the hand injury that hampered his performances during the opening races of the series now 100 per cent healed, round four of the US GNCC series started in the worst possible way for David as he started the race dead last after failing to get the jump off the line before then getting caught up in a first corner incident. Quickly on his way Knighter charged through the opening miles of the race getting himself up to second position before the end of the opening lap. Remaining in second behind Charlie Mullins for one more lap Knight then hit the front. Continuing to lead the race through his two pit stops Knight opted not to try and pull away from his XC1 class rivals straight away and instead took his time waiting until the last lap of the race to up his pace and separate himself from Mullins. Saving his fastest lap of the race until the last lap of the race Knighter opened up an eventual one-minute 15 second advantage to claim his first ever US GNCC win and in doing so moves to third in the series standings. David Knight: “I’m so pleased to have won, but it’s about bloody time I did. I was starting to wander what it was I had to do to turn things around after the first three rounds but it’s great to have finally won a race. I didn’t make things easy for myself at the start. I had a funny feeling my bike wasn’t going to start as well as it did at the last race, and I was right. I must have kicked it seven times and then I managed to hit a bike in the first turn. I think I got all of my bad luck out of the way early though because after that things went well. I had one or two close moments passing a few riders but I felt good. It was hard work in places riding a four-stroke because of the mud but I had some good lines and things went well. “The track was pretty rough but I got into a good pace and knew that I had something for Charlie and Barry on the last lap. There was no point going too fast too soon so I just did enough to keep ahead of them from lap three and then pinned it on the lap seven. Winning means I’ve closed the gap at the top of the championship so now I need to just keep doing what I did this weekend.” Results XC 1 class – US GNCC Series Rnd 3, The Steele Creek GNCC David Knight (Red Bull KTM Off Road Race Team) 3.04:31 |
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