David Knight Official Results Service '07 - US GNCC Round 9 Mountain Ridge GNCC - Dirt Rider Magazine

Split radiator hose denies Knighter victory at US GNCC Rnd 9Red Bull KTM Off Road Race Team rider David Knight saw his hopes of extending his points lead in the '07 US Grand National Cross Country Race Series come to nothing at the Mountain Ridge GNCC staged in Somerset, PA, when the reigning Enduro 3 world champion placed 11th in the XC1 Pro class. Charging through the pack during the first lap following a poor start Knight ended lap one leading having seethed his way passed all of his championship rivals. Extending his lead lap-on-lap DK looked to be headed towards his fifth win of the series when his bike lost its coolant ending his hopes of victory. Forced to slow his pace, and having to stop repeatedly to fill his bike with water, on the sixth and final lap his bike finally expired forcing the series points leader to push his 450cc KTM across the finish line to claim an eventual 11th place finishing position in the XC1 class. With the Mountain Ridge GNCC marking the re-start of the '07 season following the two month summer break Knight's hopes of increasing his championship lead seemed to be going to plan as he quickly made up for a bad start and lead from the end of the first lap. Maintaining and extending his lead during the second, third, fourth and fifth laps, David had victory in his sights when a radiator hose split and his bike lost its coolant. With the majority of the sixth and final lap still to complete David was helpless to do anything other than slow his pace in the hope that his bike wouldn't overheat. Despite stopping on numerous occasions to fill the bike with water Knighter was unable to get the bike to hold any fluids. Eventually the bike cried enough forcing David to push it across the finish for an eventual 11th place XC1 class result.David Knight: "I can't believe what happened. It just seems to be two steps forward and then one big step backwards at every other race this season. The race was mine to win, I had the speed, I had a good lead, and then on the last lap my bike lost all of its coolant. I was stopped for about 10 minutes and only two riders came passed me, that's how big my lead was. I tried to ride slowly because I knew I just had to get to the finish. Eventually the bike stopped so I had no choice but to push it to the finish. 11th is a pretty bad result considering I was leading the race for so long, but at least I managed to get some points. The way things are going this season I need all the points I can get." Results - XC 1 class US GNCC Series Rnd 9, The Mountain Ridge GNCC Barry Hawk (Yamaha) 2:48.17
Jimmy Jarrett (Suzuki) 2:52.52
Garrett Edmisten (Kawasaki) 2:53.24
Josh Strang (Suzuki) 2:53.41
Glenn Kearney (Suzuki) 2:55.04
Paul Whibley (Honda) 3:00.07
11. David Knight (Red Bull KTM Off Road Race Team) 3:38.57www.knighter.net