David Knight Wins Indoor Enduro In Genova, Italy – News – Dirt Rider Magazine

David Knight Wins Indoor Enduro in Genova, ItalyTeam KTM Racing rider David Knight claimed his first international win of the ’05 enduro season on January 22 when he clinched the victory at the first running of the Genova Indoor Enduro—his first event as a factory KTM rider.

Repeating his strong performances at both the Barcelona and Las Vegas EnduroCross indoor off-road events during the tail end of ’04, Knighter claimed a convincing win in front of 7,000 spectators. He passed comfortably through his heat race, despite missing the drop of the start gate which put him almost dead last coming into the first corner. The current British Enduro Champion also made light work of his semi final competitors to guarantee himself a place in the 10 rider final.David Knight: “I got a really bad start in my heat race but I managed to push my way past everyone in the first turn, which meant that I had a good lead about half way around the first lap. I settled down quickly, although Mika Ahola started to catch me as the race got close to the finish, but I wasn’t too worried because I knew that I could have [pushed harder] if I’d needed to.”Favorite to win the six lap main event, Knighter made things harder for himself by suffering another mediocre start. Quickly moving his way forward in the early laps of the race, he needed just two laps to place his 250 E/XC at the front of the field. Knight maintained a healthy lead to claim a victory ahead of Honda’s Paul Edmondson and fellow KTM rider Alessandro Botturi.”In the [main event] I knew that I needed to get a good start,” said David Knight. “Paul (Edmondson) and I almost went too soon so we didn’t get the best of jumps out of the gate. Out of the second turn, I managed to move to about third. I was fairly confident that I could catch Edmondson and Alessio (Paoli) because anything can happen in indoor racing. I got past Paul a little sooner than I expected, so I just had to pass Alessio.”He was attacking the track too much and I knew that he would make a mistake. Alessio did on the rocks and I got passed without any problems. Then I just tried to ride steady, not take any risks, and maintain my lead. My arms started to pump up really bad so it was just a case of not crashing.”It was a little bit difficult to get used to the bike because it was just a standard 250 E/XC with Ivan Cervantes’ suspension in it. Knowing that I can win on a 250cc two-stroke that I’m not used to gives me a lot of confidence going into the season. I can’t wait to get on my four-stroke race bike.”Results: Genova Indoor Enduro – Main event:
1. David Knight KTM
2. Paul Edmondson Honda
3. Alessandro Botturi KTM
4. Ivan Cervantes KTM
5. Mika Ahola Husqvarna
6. Simone Albergoni Honda
7. Alessio Paoli TM
8. Maurizio Micheluz Yamaha
9. Petri Pohjamo TM
10. Arnau Vilanova Honda