David Knight Closes in on World Enduro Title - News - Dirt Rider Magazine

KTM Enduro Factory Team Farioli rider David Knight moved one step closer to claiming his first ever world enduro championship title following a runner-up and first place finish in the Enduro 3 class at the GP of Finland. Despite finishing as runner-up to his KTM team-mate Marko Tarkkala on day one—the 13th day of the championship, Knighter returned to his dominant best on day two to finish top of the E3 class and as the event's fastest rider.Knowing that beating Tarkkala in Finland would be difficult, and not wanting to take any risks, David placed just 16 seconds behind the Finn on day one and comfortably ahead of all other riders in the event. Topping six of the day's special tests, a crash on the enduro test on lap three effectively ended David's hopes of winning.On day two Knight returned to the top of the event's E3 results winning all but two of the day's 12 special tests. Finishing a massive one minute and 23 seconds ahead of Tarkkala, David put himself in a position to claim the '05 Enduro 3 World Enduro Championship title at the penultimate round of the series.The next round of the '05 WEC series takes place in Greece in October 15-16.David Knight: "I was happy enough with the way things went on day one although it would have been nice to have won. I knew coming here that I would find it hard to beat Tarkkala and be the hardest race of the year to win so to finish second in class and second overall is pretty good. I was leading after the first lap but Marko was really fast on the enduro team. Everything went well on day one only Marko was riding a gear above everyone else."Day two was better for me. I fitted a different front tyre, which worked better that the one I chose for day one, and didn't really do anything else different to how I did on day one. I just seemed to feel more comfortable on the bike and was able to push a little harder."I think that part of the reason I didn't win on day one was because I have spent the past three weeks riding in the sand thinking that the event would be really sandy. It took a while to feel comfortable with all the rocks. Being the 13th day of the championship I didn't want to take any risks either—winning the world title is what is important."Results—Day 1
Enduro 3 class
1. Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 52:29.26;
2. David Knight (KTM Enduro Factory Team Farioli ) 52:45.82;
3. Seb Guillaume (Gas Gas) 54:41.72;
4. Mika Ahola (Husqvarna) 55:07.39;
5. Alessio Paoli (TM) 55:36.86;
6. Vita Kuklik (KTM) 56:08.56;
7. Alessandro Zanni (Honda) 56:12.21;
8. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 56:17.44;
9. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 56:30.53;
10. Mario Rinaldi (Husaberg) 56:34.07;
11. Daniel Persson (Husaberg) 57:04.17;
12. Heikki Timonen (KTM) 58:00.65;
13. Tomi Peltola (Husqvarna) 58:37.98;
14. Michal Rudolf (KTM) 59:46.37;
15. Maurizio Magherini (Beta) 1.01:12.30;
16. Tobias Auerswald (Husqvarna) 1.03:56.04;
17. Jakub Horak (KTM) 1.03:56.33Results—Day 2
Enduro 3 class
1. David Knight (KTM Enduro Factory Team Farioli) 57:01.24;
2. Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 58:24.47;
3. Mika Ahola (Husqvarna) 58:54.37;
4. Vita Kuklik (KTM) 1.01:07.61;
5. Alessio Paoli (TM) 1.01:07.68;
6. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 1.01:55.53;
7. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 1.01:59.43;
8. Daniel Persson (Husaberg) 1.02:10.76;
9. Heikki Timonen (KTM) 1.02:37.80;
10. Alessandro Zanni (Honda) 1.03:00.14;
11. Mario Rinaldi (Husaberg) 1.03:04.57;
12. Tomi Peltola (Husqvarna) 1.03:59.01;
13. Michal Rudolf (KTM) 1.04:12.13;
14. Maurizio Magherini (Beta) 1.05:34.48;
15. Tero Raittila (Gas Gas) 1.06:33.11;
16. Jakub Hurak (KTM) 1.07:03.14;
17. Tobias Auerswald (Husqvarna) 1.09:50.44;
18. Seb Guillaume (Gas Gas) 1.11:17.76