US GNCC Round 13 - David Knight Results Service '07 - Dirt Rider Magazine

Red Bull KTM Off Road Race Team rider David Knight is the '07 US Grand National Cross Country Champion. Needing to finish 12th or higher if his closest championship rival Barry Hawk won the final round of the 13 race series, Knighter brought his first full season of US GNCC competition to a perfect end by winning the event ahead of Charlie Mullins while Hawk failed to finish the race with a broken chain. At the end of the seven-lap race David placed one-minute ahead of Mullins.Knowing that he didn't need to win the race to secure his first US GNCC series title, David rounded the first corner in fourth before quickly working his way up to the runner-up position behind Mullins. Content to sit behind the Yamaha rider during the opening laps the pair started to pull away from the rest of the XC1 Pro class riders and quickly opened up a sizeable gap at the front of the race.Just a few bike lengths behind Mullins during the first, second and third laps David took the lead on lap four and never looked back. With the title his even if he failed to finish the race due to Hawk's early retirement Knighter steadily started pulling away at the front of the Pro class and even with a quick splash-and-dash stop for fuel at the end of the sixth lap he managed to cross the finish line one-minute ahead of Mullins to claim his seventh win of the championahip but more importantly claim the '07 US GNCC title.David Knight: "It's great to have finally wrapped up the championship. It's been one hell of strange season but despite it taking a little longer than I hoped I've achieved what I set out to do, which of course was to win the GNCC championship. I have to say a huge thanks to all of the KTM team, but especially to Timo who was my mechanic at the last four races. "The race went perfectly - it's weird but after a season of ups and downs the one race that I really needed things to go well, they did. I got a pretty good start, I was about fourth out of the first turn, and then I was quickly up to second behind Charlie Mullins after I passed Paul Whibley. I knew I didn't need to even finish inside the top ten but being up front was the safest place to be. "I spent a couple of laps behind Charlie. He had some crappy lines in a few places, and some better lines than me in a few other places, so things were quite close between us. We had a really good pace going for a few laps. I was going to wait until the two laps to go board came out before trying to pass him but I managed to find a way past him with three laps remaining so I just got my head down and opened up a small lead. I collided with a rider I was lapping, but I managed to stay in front and slowly edged ahead. "I was happy enough doing my own thing but when I got into a position to win I didn't want to waste it. I saw that Hawk was out so I didn't know what to do really then, whether to push for the win or just ease off. I knew I had the speed to win so I went for it and things worked out well. Winning the championship with a race win is a great way to end the series."Results - XC 1 class US GNCC Series Rnd 12, Ironman GNCC 1. David Knight (Red Bull KTM Off Road Race Team) 2:50.01
2. Charlie Mullins (Yamaha) 2:51.01
3. Paul Whibley (Honda) 2:53.54
4. Garrett Edmisten (Kawasaki) 2:59.26
5. Dustin Gibson (KTM) 2:59.52