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 Knighter wins GBXC Opener
Words: Tim Tighe
Pics www.foto-x.co.uk
The much-anticipated opening round of the GBXC Championship Series kicked off in brilliant sunshine on Sunday at the hallowed Matchams Park circuit. A co-production between Paul Edmondson and Steve Ireland, Britain’s top two most recognised XC promoters, the whole thing had all the hallmarks of a quality event, which attracted a top-notch entry.
The series could have been called the GNCC GB, as Red Bull KTM’s David Knight (pictured right) said: ‘It’s the closest thing you’ll get to the GNCC in Europe!’
Matchams is well known for its quality MX track but the addition of two long loops through woodland sections gave riders a six-mile course to navigate and the MX track was by far the easiest part.
The layout made for a rough, tough, fast and flowing lap which was used initially by the Novice, Sportsman, Vets Over 40, Ladies and Youth riders during the two hour morning race, and then by the Pro, Expert, Clubman 2T and 4T for the 2 and three quarter hour afternoon event.
The partnership between fasteddyracing.com and WOR events surprised many people when it was announced. The two organisations are in competition with each other year-in year-out but more than a little foresight and the ability to see the big picture, brought out the best in both organisations and attracted nearly two hundred riders to the Hampshire venue.
Both organisations should be commended on their vision by realising that what is good for the sport, through TV coverage and top quality promotion, benefits both promoters and all involved in off road sports. Eddy and Ireland paid the TV crew to attend and were not, as many people believed, paid to allow them to film the event. Roger Harvey was in control in the mic giving excellent commentary throughout both races and finding time to interview many of the Pro’s and winners throughout the day.
With four events planned in the series this was the first of two motocross type venues, which will be accompanied by two Enduro style venues, giving both Motocrossers and Enduro riders a fair crack of the whip.
Possibly the biggest coup, apart from getting Knighter to ride, was in arranging for Sky Sports to air it on their sports channel. There was much riding on this event and it didn’t disappoint, the weather was excellent, as was the track and more importantly, the organisation.
 Knighter (pictured left), on his Red Bull KTM, grabbed the holeshot but Jason Thomas, on a borrowed Honda, took the lead after a few corners and held it for the first two laps. Knighter picked up some rope around his rear wheel and had no rear brakes. He stopped and cleared the problem as slowly the rear brake came back into action. Charging around the course, he took Thomas on lap three and never looked back.
PAR Honda’s Ash Greedy had a superb ride. Considering enduro is not really his thing he did well to post third overall in such a competitive field, but he did have stiff competition throughout the race. D-3’s Tom Sagar started unusually slowly but steadily worked his way to fourth place. while team-mate Special Greg Evans was flying right from the off but unfortunately ran out of petrol in the closing stages. The top four riders all clocked 15 laps with Knighter finishing some 7 minutes ahead of second placed Thomas but only seconds separated Greedy and Sagar.
Darryl Bolter was also impressive even though he was on a standard Husky and was challenging for a top five finish before mechanical problems saw him DNF. Si Wakeley’s MPS Husqvana ran like a dream, until he lost his clutch and stalled his way to the finish in a very creditable fifth place. Euan McConnell overcame falling asleep on the motorway and was fully awake as he steered his 530TM to sixth overall.
Darren Coutts took seventh in the Pro class, just ahead of Ricky Mair in eighth, who was at his best over the moto-x sections. Darren Carter took ninth with Jason Fraser completing the top-ten line-up.
Mark Roberts lead the Experts home, 13 laps and less than 40 seconds lead over Bradley King in second spot. James Yearley was less than 40 seconds behind in third while Rowland Morris took fourth and Keith Horsenell fifth.
Rudy Austin had a great outing and lead the field in the Clubman 4T class. His win was just over a minute ahead of Genus Motorsport’s Dave Grimshaw and two minutes clear of third placed Tom Braddock. Lee Hattersley nailed fourth place with Sean O’Neill fifth. All top five riders completed 12 laps.
The Clubman 2T class went to Richard Ely who won with just over a minutes lead from Peter Clarke in second. Dennis Harrison was a little way back in third but nearly three minutes clear of fourth placed Steve Holcombe and Keith Jones in fifth.
The 2 hour morning race was equally as exciting and competitive. Richard Main and David Selkeld dominated proceedings, oth riders were in the Vets Over 40 class, and were separated by just 40 seconds at the finish although Chris Roberts, in third, was gaining in the final stages and just lost second spot by four minutes. Mark Houson was seven seconds behind Roberts in the Over 40’s and took fourth place while Adrian Bradley completed the top five places.
Stan Watt was free and clear in the Sportsman class. His six-minute lead was untouchable and his victory well deserved. Paul Moore and Nik Rowbottom battled until the end and just eight seconds was the difference between second and third places. Liam Flynn and Rob Lambert were a lap down in fourth and fifth places.
Johhny Jones may have been in the Novice class but his ride was almost expert. Colin Bott pushed him to the finish and just over a minute separated the two. Gav Fairclough steamed into third just seconds ahead of Richard Bates in fourth. Danny Morris had a great ride and a well deserved place in the top five.
Tamsin Jones and Sophie Thomas were a lap clear of the rest in the Ladies class. Jones stretched her lead to a minute by the chequered flag as Thomas took second place followed by Jane Daniels, Kate Harrington and Kate Lloyd.
Marcus Alba and Scott Clifford both clocked nine laps in the Youth class, they would have placed well in the Clubman classes. Alba won with a lead of 17 seconds over Clifford. Both riders were a lap clear of Liam Garbett in third, Nate Hotlby, fourth and William Hughes, fifth.
This series was a gamble. Fast Eddy and Steve Ireland put their money where their mouths were and took the risk, which paid off in spades! It really was big-time, XC entertainment at its best.
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Ashley Greedy
Results
Pro
1 David Knight Red Bull KTM
2 Jason Thomas Honda
3 Ash Greedy PAR Honda
4 Tom Sagar D-3 Motorsport
5 Si Wakeley MPS Husqvana
6 Euan McConnell 530 TM
7 Darren Coutts
8 Ricky Mair
9 Darren Carter Red-Line KTM
10 Jason Fraser St Blazey Husqvana
Expert
1 Mark Roberts
2 Bradley King
3 James Yearley
4 Rowland Morris
5 Keith Horsenall
6 Steve Grimshaw
7 Mark Godfrey
8 Derry Milling
9 David Brick
10 Craig Chamberlain
Clubman 2T
1 Richard Ely
2 Peter Clarke
3 Dennis Harrison
4 Steve Holcombe
5 Keith Jones
6 Graham Lazzari
7 Dan Lawry
8 Peter Benton
9 Liam Ward
10 Michael Brooks
Clubman 4T
1 Rudy Austin
2 Dave Grimshaw
3 Tom Braddock
4 Lee Hattersley
5 Sean O’Neil
6 James Harvey
7 Chris Nunn
8 Gary Simms
9 Royce Machin
10 Richard Cookland
Over 40
1. Richard Main
2. Dave Selkeld
3. Chris Roberts
4. Mark Houson
5. Adrian Bradley
Sportsman
1. Stan Watt
2. Paul Moore
3. Nik Rowbotham
4. Liam Flynn
5. Rob Lambert
Novice
1. Johnny Jones
2. Colin Bott
3. Gavin Faircloth
4. Richard Bates
5. Danny Morris
Ladies
1. Tamsin Jones
2. Sophie Thomas
3. Jane Daniels
4. Kate Harrington
5. Kate Lloyd
Youth
1. Marcus Alba
2. Scott Clifford
3. Liam Garbett
4. Nathan Hotlby
5. William Hughes
David Knight Report
Red Bull KTM Off Road Race Team
Knighter steps up pre-US GNCC training, wins GB XC Round 1
Red Bull KTM Off Road Team’s David Knight stepped up his preparations ahead of the opening round of the ’08 US GNCC series, which takes place in Florida on March 2, by competing in and winning the first GB XC event of ’08 at Matchams Park. With his previous competitive outings this season having been on a 250cc two-stroke, Knight wanted to use the race as a pre-GNCC shake down and compete for three hours aboard KTM’s new 450cc four-stroke.
Claiming the holeshot Knight’s early advantage vanished when he momentarily took a wrong turn and dropped to second. Then getting rope caught around his rear wheel the reigning GNCC champion was forced to pit having lost the use of his rear brake. Quickly back out on track Knight needed little time at all to work his way into the lead before opening up a commanding advantage of some eight minutes.
David heads to the States on Monday, February 25, where he will spend several days testing with his Red Bull KTM team in Florida ahead of the opening round of the ‘08 US GNCC series. In the meantime Knight will continue testing and training at his home in the Isle of Man.
David Knight: “The event was great preparation for me. I knew the conditions would be sandy, like the first race of the US GNCC championship, so it was perfect for me. I wanted to race the bike for three hours before heading to the US. I’ve spent a lot of time adjusting to and setting up the new bike in recent weeks and everything went well during the race. There are still one or two little things that can be improved but I’m really happy with the way the bike performed. I also felt fresh at the end of the race, which is good.
“The race itself went well. I got about the only holeshot I’ve ever had on a 450 but then I took a wrong turn and dropped to second. I got some rope caught in my rear wheel then, which lost me about 45 seconds as I had to come into the pits to sort it, but after that everything went well. The track was quite fast so it wasn’t easy to make up time. But I pushed hard and was about eight minutes ahead at the end of the race. It was a really good event and I feel much happier now that I’ve raced the new bike for three hours.”
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Steve Ireland (left) and Paul Edmondson
The Experts blast off!
The afternoon line-up.
Front Row GB
FRONT ROW GB TAKE HONOURS AT GBXC ROUND 1
Matchams Park in Hampshire, was the location for round 1 of the Great Britain Cross Country series, put together by Paul Edmondson from the Fast Eddy series and Steve Ireland from the Wirral Off-Road series. The course was made up of the traditional Matchams motocross and supercross circuits plus an abundance of wooded areas making for excellent viewing for all spectators.
The event had gathered much interest nationally, since the entries first opened and the main afternoon race was to see the likes of David Knight, Jason Thomas, Tom Sagar, Greg Evans, Euan McConnell and many more fight for the top spot.
The supporting race was an AM start and boasted a fairly strong field of riders at the front of the pack and set to last for a duration of 2 hours compared to 3 hours for the afternoon event.
The Front Row GB riders of Jon Stamper and Stan Watt made the ‘intelligent suggestion’ that they would take part in both races, using the AM 2 hour race as a test of endurance and speed and the 3 hour PM race as a matter of fitness and completing a total of 5 hours on a fairly arduous course.
AM RACE
With temperatures not far above freezing, the sun was shining and the course in perfect condition; the support event got underway at 10am. Jon was in amongst the front series of riders with Stan starting in the second batch, 1 minute behind.
The initial lap was basically a fact finding mission making for a safe lap before trying to make ground. Stan had a fair start, moving into the lead of his pack on the third corner only to slide out and crash leaving the main motocross circuit heading into the first wooded section. This was to slow the initial advance but by the end of lap one Stan had already closed on much of the first riders away.
Jon maintained a good pace throughout and started to move up the field reducing lap times every circulation of the course. Stan was also gaining good lap times and by the time the last 30 minutes was signalled, Stan had an untouchable lead and eased back saving some energy for the PM race. Jon unfortunately had crashed on the last lap not only damaging his KTM530 sustaining mild concussion that would not allow for him to start the PM race.
By the end of the AM race the course had held up well and generally it was looking good for finishing the second race and just maybe bringing in a half reasonable result for the second time in the same day.
PM RACE
With 60 minutes between races, Stan did some minor adjustments to his KTM300, put it back on the start line, fed his own engine and prepared for what would be a gruelling 2 hours 45 minutes. The 15 minute reduction of race duration would be an unforeseen welcome by the end.
The initial 45 minutes went well with Stan pushing hard to maintain his good start but the course was soon to take its toll physically as the lap times started to lengthen and tiredness was evident. The course started to whoop and cut up drastically making for demanding riding, not technical; but physically draining to the point it was apparent finishing would be a challenge in its own right.
With the last 40 minutes looming Stan caught a second breath and was able to put together some fairly good laps to finish on a high but without doubt was definitely aware he had been put through his paces for this excessive training exercise.
The main event was totally dominated by none other than David Knight lapping every rider on the circuit plus a further 7 minutes. An outstanding display without any doubt.
All-in-all, the organisers have to be praised for putting together an excellent event at one of the best locations in Britain, which will also be hosting the British Enduro Championship in September.
We are unaware of anyone else competed in both races on Sunday but from Stan’s reaction it may not be a regular occurrence.
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