D3-Racing KTM rider David Knight claims a double win at the opening round of the ’04 British Enduro Championship

Claiming his fourth career win at the Diss MCC organised Breckland Enduro, D3-Racing KTM rider David Knight got his ’04 British Enduro Championship campaign off to the best start possible by gaining a maximum points score after topping the event on both days.
Going up against former seven-time event winner Paul Edmondson, Knighter and the D3-Racing team were a little unsure of what the weekend would bring - especially as the event has always favoured smaller two-stroke machines in previous years. But with David determined to stamp his mark on the race, and gain an early season advantage, the Manxman produced opening test times on both days that simply couldn’t be matched – test times that ultimately earned him the win on both Saturday and Sunday. And even with a brief excursion into the trees on day one’s second special test David maintained his advantage to walk away from the event exactly where he wanted to be – at the top of the British championship.
“To be honest I didn’t think that I’d be able to beat Paul this weekend so to have won has given me a real confidence boost. The event was a tough as it always is, but I really enjoyed it. With no lines to follow on the opening test you had to decide exactly which line you wanted to take and I had a really good run through it. I was riding okay on the second test but then made a bit of a balls up of one of the corners when I overshot a turn and ended up in the trees before having to turn around to re-join the test. After that I tried a bit too hard. In the final test I just tried to ride as smooth as possible and I just managed to win the test. The bike has been spot on all weekend, I used third gear for start to finish of most of the tests and, well, it worked perfectly.
“On the first test on day two I tried to ride smooth again but I didn’t feel as if I had a very good test. My time was still pretty good though, which was a bit of a surprise. I rode smoothly on the second, third and fourth tests and just tried not to make any mistakes as the test was getting really rough. To win at the Breckland is always nice because it’s a long time until the next round of the British Championship. I think the next two rounds should really suit me, it’s just a shame we have to wait so long before we can race again.”

While it was a great weekend for David, it turned out to be a frustrating one for the D3-Racing team’s 250cc two-stroke rider Edward Jones. With high hopes of a runner-up finish behind Edmondson in the quarter litre class, Edward struggled with the bike set-up of the 250 EXC on day one, yet still managed a strong eighth overall and third in the Over 175cc two-stroke class. Using the time available after the first days competition to make a few adjustments to the bike, Edward came out guns blazing on day two to finish in fifth overall and second in the Over 175cc class.
“Generally, I’d like to forget this weekend. Day one didn’t go that well really, I was expecting and expected to go a lot better than I did. The bike set-up just wasn’t quite right. We made a few changes to the bike before day two, which totally transformed the bike.
“I’m reasonably happy with the way day two went other than everyone was quite close together on test times and I crashed on the third test and lost around 15 seconds on that test. That put me back to ninth overall, which meant that things weren’t looking to good at that point. But I got myself back to fifth, which I’m happy with but overall I’m a bit disappointed.”

Team manager Julian Stephens: “I’m really chuffed with the way David and Edward have ridden this weekend. Both David and I knew that Paul Edmondson would be hard to beat as he’s won at the Breckland many times before, has prepared as well as we have for the new season, and was very confident coming into the event.
“Everyone knows that the Breckland special test is best suited to 125cc/250cc two-strokes, and certainly not well suited to large four strokes, so for David to win both days really says something about the way he’s riding. I just hope that David can carry his current form into next weekends opening round of the World Enduro Championship.
“Edward has ridden really well this weekend as well and his results certainly don’t reflect that. We didn’t have the bike set-up that well for him on day one - he wasn’t gelling with the bike. We made some changes to the bike for day two and he went really well. Unfortunately, he hit a tree and crashed on the third test of the day, which dropped him to ninth, but he managed to get himself back up to fifth. If he hadn’t have made that mistake he could have been fourth or third overall.

Results – Day one: Championship class overall
1. David Knight D3-Racing KTM
2. Paul Edmondson
3. Paul Whibley
4. Ryan Voase
5. Daryl Bolter
6. Chris Hay
7. Juan Knight
8. Edward Jones D3-Racing KTM
9. Simon Wakely
10. Dylan Jones

Results – Day two: Championship class overall
1. David Knight D3-Racing KTM
2. Paul Edmondson
3. Chris Hay
4. Daryl Bolter
5. Edward Jones D3-Racing KTM
6. Paul Malin
7. Chris Hockey
8. Wayne Braybrook
9. Dylan Jones
10. Stevie Roper

Full event results can be found at: www.dissmcc.co.uk

Issued on behalf of Triple D Motorsport Ltd
www.d3-racing.com
d3-racing@virgin.net