Cycle News Staff | August 21, 2019
German Manuel Lettenbichler emerged victorious at the ninth running of the Kenda Tennessee Knockout in Sequatchie, Tennessee, August 16-18, 2019.
2019 Kenda Tennessee Knockout Video Highlights
Lettenbichler Victorious At Kenda Tennesse Knockout 2019
Manuel Lettenbichler led from start to finish in the main event at the Kenda Tennessee Knockout. Photo: Shan Moore
Riding a KTM 300 XCW TPI, the 21-year-old Lettenbichler held off Spain’s Mario Roman (Sherco) to claim the hard-fought win. Roman’s Sherco teammate Wade Young rounded out the top three overall.
The three-day event had almost 400 entries. Racing started on Friday, August 16, with a prologue to set the starting positions. The prologue was followed by two rounds of racing for amateur riders on Saturday. The top 30 of those amateur riders earned a spot in Sunday’s racing, which also included 27 pre-qualified pro riders. Nate Smith won the Saturday morning race. Seventeen-year-old Ryder LeBlond took the Amateur win over Smith and Jarrett Mohn to earn the AMA Amateur Extreme Enduro Grand National Championship, and he move on to Sunday’s racing.
After a series of qualifiers, the weekend’s top racers met Sunday in the main event, a 30-minute-plus-one-lap shootout on the short course. Lettenbichler jumped out to an early lead and never looked back for the win.
Lettenbichler finished a close second to six-time TKO Champion Cody Webb at the 2018 event, and he used that experience to win in 2019. “It is a completely different kind of format than I normally race,” 21-year-old German said. “You race four times during the day with high intensity. And the main event is so difficult because the pace is so high. I liked the loops, but it is much hotter and more humidity than I am used to from home so it makes it very challenging. I was happy to have a comfy lead at the end of the final race so I could back off a little.”
An injury prevented Webb from participating this year.
Roman finished third in the 2017 and 2018 TKO events and improved to second this year. “I think I am getting more experience year by year in this race,” the Spaniard said. “This is a special kind of race because you have a couple of hours in the morning just to qualify and then the main one is 30 minutes with high intensity and high humidity. I didn’t have time to prepare much because we just came from Romaniacs. Letti [Lettenbichler] was no mistakes, and he was gone after I battled with Colton [Haaker] and Wade in the beginning, but I am happy to improve and have a good result with the help of Sherco USA.”
Colton Haaker (Husqvarna) was the top-finishing American rider in fourth place, while Trystan Hart (KTM) rounded out the top five.
The Women’s class had a total of 14 riders that tried to earn a spot in the main event by completing the morning race within the two and a half hour time limit and 10 of those riders moved forward to the main with three of the women finishing within the top 40 overall among the 242 riders. Beta’s Rachel Gutish took her third TKO win with a dominant performance. Shelby Turner and Nicole Bradford both had minor mishaps in the first few corners that put them behind, but they rebounded to finish second and third, respectively. CN
9th Kenda Tennessee Knockout
Sequatchie, Tennessee
RESULTS: August 16-18, 2019
Main
- Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM)
- Mario Roman (She)
- Wade Young (Sher)
- Colton Haaker (Hus)
- Trystan Hart, KTM
- Ben Kelley (KTM)
- Ricky Russell (Yam)
- Max Gerston (Beta)
- Grant Baylor (KTM)
- Ronnie Commo (KTM)
