David Knight (center) claimed the overall win at the Super Enduro round in Poland. Photography by Jonty Edmunds/KTM Images
Sherco’s Davd Knight came away with the overall victory in round two of the Super Enduro Championship in Lodz, Poland, December 13. Poland’s own Taddy Blazusiak finished second overall, while Spain’s Dani Gibert rounded out the podium.
In the three-race format, Knight came out swinging, taking the holeshot and never letting go for the win, while Blazusiak, the five-time AMA EnduroCross Champion, struggled in the middle of the pack after getting off to a bad start. The Red Bull/KTM rider went on to finish fourth.
Frenchman Mathias Bellino and Brit Danny McCanny finished second and third, respectively, in the opening race.
As usual in the Super Enduro Championship, the second race starts in reverse finishing order from the opening race and the top riders had to fight their way up through the pack, including Knight and Blazusiak, on what was a very challenging racecourse. Gibert took control of the race just past the halfway point and went on to take the win, while Knight fought his way to a sixth-place finish and Blazusiak an eighth-place finish. Alfredo Gomez took runner-up honors in the second race, followed by KTM rider Kornel Nemeth.
In the third and final race, Blazusiak captured the win but it wasn’t enough to keep Knight, who took second, from coming away with the overall victory with a 1-6-2.
Blazusiak’s 4-8-1 gave him second overall. Gibert ended up third overall.
Blazusiak also won the night’s Superpole competition.
“What can I say, I didn’t expect to win, especially at Taddy’s home race, but in this sport anything can happen,” Knight said. “It was so important to get a good start and I struggled a little with that today, but I rode well and it paid off. Winning race one was a great start and gave me confidence, it was a faultless race and went perfectly. The second race was a lottery with the silly reverse grid. It’s a recipe for disaster and Ivan Cervantes was very lucky to be okay when he crashed and I ran over him! I was dead last and got to sixth and caught the fifth- fourth- and third-placed riders at the flag. It was the best I could do as I pushed as hard as possible every lap.
“Race three was a very nervous one for me,” Knight added. “I wanted to win so bad and my start was okay, and I was up to third on lap one. I knew it was good enough and just rode smart. I moved to second on lap three and stayed there. Mentally it was tough but to win overall was unreal, I’m so happy! To gain some points back is great, Taddy is still going to be very hard to beat for the championship, but I will do my best as always we will see what happens. As ever, I’d like to thank my team and all my supporters, the messages I received after the event really mean a lot.”
Blazusiak still leads the championship with 107, followed by Knight with 93. Gibert is third with 80 points. There are four rounds remaining in the championship.
A couple of American riders made the trip to Poland to compete. KTM riders Kevin Rookstool and Kyle Redmond battled it out with the Europeans, with Rookstool finishing 12th overall and Redmond 13th overall.
