David Knight took another BEC double win at round two of the 2012 ACU Doodson British Enduro Championship at the Helmsley Enduro in North Yorkshire over the weekend. Unbeaten over four days of competition, heʼs the clear leader of the championship ahead of Tom Sagar and Daniel McCanney.
For the second round in the championship the riders were again faced with difficult wintry conditions, but true to his promise, the course set by John Kerwin stayed rideable throughout, providing a close, exciting competition. Knight (KTM) was at his best, typically over ten-seconds faster than his nearest challenger in the test and able to gap his competition by as much as two- minutes on the checks. Behind him, in close company, Tom Sagar (Honda) and Danny McCanney (Gas Gas) shared the runner-up positions 3-2, and 2-3 respectively.
The conditions made for difficult riding, particularly on the Saturday, and while this meant lost time for many, and a fair few DNFs, most riders conceded this was enduro as it is meant to be, a hard test of ability and endurance. Importantly it was a fair test both in the championship class and support classes, where early season winners Steve Holcombe (Experts) and Aled Price (Clubman) were topping the time sheets.
Two wins on the bounce for Knighter
David Knight: “That was a good event, I really enjoyed it. The course held up well and the test was nice and grippy, it was probably faster at the end than at the beginning, despite the conditions.
“It was a hard day on Saturday, and there was no rest, in fact it reminded me a lot of the courses we got in America riding GNCC, so I really enjoyed it. It was tight on time but Iʼd have liked it if theyʼd made it tighter still!
“I was concerned it would be tough to take time out of Tom and the rest on the test, but it came and we had a lot of fun racing each other on the checks. A fun event, It was nice to come here to Yorkshire, as well.”
John Kerwin, Clerk of the Course: “The weather was against us this weekend, just before the start it started to snow which then turned to heavy rain, which made the course considerably harder, so I adjusted the number of laps to compensate. Due to the unexpected weather we had more riders with time penalties than was expected but there were still riders in every class who cleaned Saturdayʼs times. On Sunday, in kinder conditions and with slacker times, the riders saw the true potential of the Helmsley going, with its long climbs, off-cambers and woodland trails. The test held up well and the test times reflect this.
“Big thanks to Mick Seward at MPS Racing and Dave Plummer at Husqvarna for the inflatable arch and the miles of Husqvarna track tape for the special test, to Rob Sheldon of Rock Oil, to TM, and all the marshals who helped make this event possible.”