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DAVID KNIGHT IS THE GBXC CHAMPION!
Report G.TURNER
Pictures AN ROSS
When Steve Ireland from WOR Events and Paul Edmondson, aka Fast Eddy, announced in 2007 that they were going to raise the profile of XC racing in the UK with a televised and professional series in 2008, they certainly were not messing about.
This round 3 of the series was, put simply, superb, as have been the first 2 rounds.
From the course, through to the quality of the entry list, the atmosphere and the racing, the setting of the venue, even the food at the caterers was of the highest quality.
Literally thousands of people were present with the biggest show of spectators than at any of the previous GBXC rounds.
This championship in its first year has come in and put itself at the top of the pile of the current crop (and growing list!!) of race promoters and organisers that seem to be breeding at an intense rate of knots, all with a different name or format here and there. The reason that GBXC is sitting at the top of this pile is easy to work out, Steve Ireland and his powerful WOR Events setup working with Paul Edmondson and his acclaimed Fast Eddy team can call on years of expertise and know-how in this world of cross country racing and they not only bring TV to the series but all the top names and industry shakers and movers.
With the highest quality organisational skills coupled to a very friendly and welcoming atmosphere at all GBXC events it’s great news that the UK finally has a recognised British XC championship.
Paul and Steve announced at weekend that 2009 will definitely see a 6/7 round GBXC series, great news for off road dirt bike riders for next year.
 KNIGHT IS CHAMP... KTM 1/2/3/ ON THE PRO PODIUM
David Knight, the worlds number 1 off road rider has had a phenomenal impact on the 2008 GBXC. Racing with passion and commitment, David “wanted” to win the series in its first year and did so in fine style. Winning 3 rounds out of 3 in this 4 round championship, Knight was crowned the victor and received the coveted Red #1 plate as he stood victorious on the GBXC rostrum.
The racing action here at the 3rd round was brilliant with another quality line-up in all classes and the spectating public were six deep watching at some sections of the fantastic Berwyn Leisure Park in Llanarmon DC in North Wales.
Even the fantastic sunny and warm weather was like it was ordered direct from the powers that be just to make the GBXC round even better.
The main race... 1pm to 4pm
The Pro race, as expected, was the one most people were looking forward to, and they were not disappointed in their expectations.
Paul Edmondson opted to ride the main event (first time in GBXC) and, to be fair to the former 4 times world enduro champion, was probably not as bike fit as he would have liked. However, a storming holeshot and very fast start saw the Relentless Suzuki of Eddy lead for the majority of the first lap and then swap places with the big Manxman Knight for the next couple of laps at the sharp end of the race.
Come lap 3, KTM’s young star Tom Sagar was on a mission, his factory orange machine ripping through the enduro-based track that really seemed to suit the local Sagar’s style. Sagar had managed to pass Edmondson and was the only rider staying within the ultimate pace of David Knight at the front.
Disaster struck for Edmondson as he made a miscalculation regarding his fuel range on his standard MX tank and promptly ran out of fuel miles into the huge circuit. On receiving fuel from another rider, that was Eddy’s race over and it was back to the paddock quite annoyed with himself for making the error.
With Knight out front and Sagar never too far behind (5 minutes come the end of the race!) in second place it was the battle for the 3rd placed podium spot that had everyone enthralled.
Nate Kanney, the young USA based KTM rider currently lying 5th in the GNCC was battling like mad with the MPS HUSKY star Darryl Bolter.
Swapping places with one another on a few occasions it was on the second to last lap that the hard charging American pulled clear of Bolter to take the 3rd place trophy.
A minute and a half ended up separating the 2 riders. What is quite remarkable about Kanney’s ride was the fact that he showed up at the event with NO bike to ride and thanks to the kindness of WOR’s top marshal, Vinny Jones. Nate was given Jones’s pride and joy KTM 250 EXC to use. Just a new rear tyre and a few fettles had the very fast Kanney turning lots of heads with his very fast style and bike control.
Bolter pushed hard on the 4t Husky but commented at the end when being interviewed by race compare Roger Harvey that he had it in his head to “take it easy” with the all important WEC round this coming weekend in Wales lying ahead of him. All 4 of the top pro riders completed 10 laps.
Mark Roberts led the Experts away from the start to the finish and the Kawasaki mounted youngster will now proudly move to the Pro class after doing enough over 3 rounds to claim the GBXC Expert’s title.
Mark managed to get 9 laps under his belt, which on paper put him a lap clear of Expert runner-up Ben Wootton. Wootton had a slow start and looked not to be on his best form early on, but that soon changed and the committed Wootton soon started to crawl his way through the pack and once again put himself on the podium. 3rd placed Expert went to Keith Horsnell, albeit 5 minutes down on Wootton.
Lewis Belfield is a young man making a big impression at the moment in the Clubman ranks and by taking the Clubman 2t win here at the GBXC really proved his credentials as an Expert rider in the very near future. Belfield took the win by over 8 minutes from Daf Jones in the runner-up spot and Owain Humphries in the bronze position. The top Clubman 2t riders completed 8 laps each.
These 3 youngsters are WOR Clubman front-runners and showed with these results that they are capable of doing it at national level racing.
The top Clubman 4 stroke rider was Dave Grimshaw, Always riding with a smile saw the Genus Team Boss take a near 3 minute advantage from runner-up Grant Church who in turn took just a 30 second advantage from 3rd placed Rudy Austin. The top 3 Clubman 4t riders doing 7 laps each.
With David Knight taking the chequered flag and Roger Harvey conducting the rider interviews as the riders crossed the finish line, the cheers and air horns in the paddock and presentation area really sounded out the day in style.
The earlier 2 hour race... 10am to 12pm
The morning race caters for Veterans (over-40), the Sportsman, Youth, Novice and Ladies. Once again this race was supported to the highest levels by the riding public and although most riders found the natural Welsh enduro circuit very hard to navigate, they also really enjoyed the challenge and smiles were the order of the day as the tired riders crossed the finish line past the Clerk of the Course.
 The Veteran class has been huge at the GBXC from day one and the entry is usually around the 70 + rider mark. This class is also made up of some really fast guys from yesteryear and they have not lost any of their speed nor commitment judging by the racing action so far in this class.
Ex-Championship enduro Rider Chris Walton was on fine form and, despite staring the event in dead last place, managed to charge his way through and take a very deserved class and overall win. Riding in his first GBXC, Walton took right up until the last lap to get past the hard-charging Chris Roberts who was out in the lead from the start. Roberts (KTM 200) ended up 1 minute and 20 seconds down on Walton come the end with “Super Vet” Raymond Whittle showing that at over 50 years of age he still can achieve that podium pace by taking 3rd.
Whittle was 3 minutes down on Roberts and a special mention should go to Dave Salkeld. After not the best of starts Dave started to eat his way back through the pack and was unlucky not to catch Whittle on the last lap as only 11 seconds separated them with Salkeld setting some very quick and consistent lap times.
Jane Daniels simply blitzed her opposition in the Ladies class and looks every week like she is getting better and better. Jane completed a lap more than runner-up Sophie Thomas and 3rd placed Tamsin Jones. Thomas did suffer some mechanical problems during the race and also found the small wheels on her bike where struggling against the huge Welsh mountainside.
Top Sportsman was Craig Parkes who just managed to sneak in one more lap ahead of second placed A.J. Stead. Third placed sportsman was ex-motocross rider Mike Hicken.
Alec Trawford made the pain of pre-walking the entire circuit worthwhile by taking a well-earned Novice class win from Johnny Jones and Danny Morris in second and third place respectively.
Finally in the Youth class it was the super smooth Youngster Joe Jones that took the victory spoils with an almost complete lap advantage over runner up Gethin Humpries. Jones matched the 7 laps of the winning Veteran (Walton) a testament to the 15-year-old’s skill.
Richard Edwards took the bronze place on 5 laps.
And so this series is rolling forward gaining more and more momentum with each round and the excitement of knowing the race will be “on telly” within a few weeks leaves the lasting impression in the riders and spectators’ minds that Edmondson and Ireland certainly have delivered with the 2008 GBXC.
Well done to all...
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INSIGHT RENEWABLES D3-RACING KTM
After what feels like months of rain the sun finally came out for round 3 of the GBXC cross-country championship in North Wales, and so did a solid line up of Pro riders including series leader David Knight, his American KTM team-mate Nathan Kanney on a borrowed WOR marshal’s Bike, Paul Edmondson and our own KTM D3 Rider Tom Sagar. Special Greg Evans is still out with his broken leg but circulated on his trials bike to get to the interesting spectator points. The GBXC team had plotted a excellent course of around 7 miles, a mixture of open fellside, streams, an MX practice track and some bogs to make it interesting. The course running both sides of a small valley with a start area and paddock in the middle which was perfect for spectating allowing riders to be seen several times a lap.
When the flag dropped at 1.00pm it was Fast Eddy who took the holeshot closely followed by DK and Welsh motocrosser Ashley Greedy, Tom was back in around 15th but quickly moved up to around 7th in less than half a lap and 5th by the lap scoring van. Fast Eddy and DK exchanged place’s at the front for the first 2 laps while Tom on the little 250F was pushing really hard and in just over 2 laps had made up a minute on the front runners. At the end of lap 2 Tom had passed Eddy but DK had upped his pace too and had a gap of around 15 second on Tom. With a lap length of around 17 minutes Eddy miscalculated his fuel stops and his MX bike just couldn’t quite complete 4 laps so he ran dry and was out leaving Tom with a good advantage over 3rd placed Kanney. Tom had to make 2 fuel stops but DK was using a big tank and just made the 1 stop which allowed him to pull further away, but David had also upped his pace and was lapping around 20 seconds quicker than Tom and who had around a 4 minute cushion on Kanney and he was having a battle with Daryl Bolter.
Knighter of the Red Bull KTM 450 EXC once again won as he usually does but Tom put in one of his best ever performances at a cross-country race to finish in 2nd place just ahead of fellow KTM racer Nathan Kanney, a position he also hold in the Championship. With DK winning the first 3 rounds he cannot be beaten now and also took the GBXC championship to add to all his others. All three KTM riders head off to the World Enduro championship in Llanidloes this coming weekend.
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