2022 Red Bull Tennessee Knockout Results

Cycle News Staff | August 15, 2022

Trystan Hart topped the 2022 Red Bull Tennessee Knockout. The FMF KTM Factory Racing-backed Canadian dominated the day by setting the fastest times in all four rounds of racing that totaled nearly three hours on the rocky and challenging terrain.

Trystan Hart at 2022 TKO — FMF KTM’s Trystan Hart took his first-ever FIM Hard Enduro World Championship event win at round six of the 2022 season in Tennessee. It was the Canadian’s second Tennessee Knockout win as he won in 2020 before it was part of the world championship.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY FUTURE7 MEDIA

Red Bull KTM’s Manuel Lettenbichler finished second. The German was one minute and 19 seconds behind Hart in the main event. Sherco Racing’s Mario Roman finished third to maintain a one-point lead over Lettenbichler in FIM Hard Enduro World Championship (HEWC). The event also served as round six of the AMA Grand Championship for Extreme Off-Road racing so world championship points were earned, as well as an AMA number one plate.

In addition to the pro racing, the Red Bull Tennessee Knockout crowned amateur champions. Saturday included two rounds of amateur racing with race two serving as the championship-deciding race. During that second race, Tennessee’s Drew Kirby earned the number-one spot with a winning time of 58 minutes and five seconds on his KTM. Rodrigo Lopes finished four minutes and six seconds behind and Tyler Soriano rounded out the top three.

Sixteen-year-old Chase Landers won the morning race and finished fourth in the championship-deciding race. The top 30 riders also earned the opportunity to compete with the 32 pre-qualified pro riders that included ten of the HEWC riders.

Manuel Lettenbichler at 2022 2022 Red Bull Tennessee Knockout — **Manuel Lettenbichler finished second to Hart despite an injured foot. The German moved to within one point of the championship points lead.**

Also on Saturday, Sam Bird raced an Electric Motion to beat JoJo Toole to win the inaugural ECR eMoto electric motorcycle class. Toole was riding a prototype XE4 conversion that utilized a Yamaha YZ250F motocross chassis. Jason Smith rounded out the podium on another Electric Motion. A total of twenty-four riders competed with seventeen completing the full loop.

Other Saturday class winners among nearly 500 participants included Riley Bender in Amateur B, Nicholas Trailer in Amateur, Stephen Thaxton in 45+ Vet and Seth Steiner in Youth Lites 12-15.

Sunday’s format consisted of four rounds of racing for the 61 riders that earned a spot and it started with the hot lap on a 1.6-mile “short course.” Hart set the fastest time of 7:41.30 seconds. Lettenbichler was second with a time of 7:45.47 and Roman rounded out the top three with a time of 7:49.04. Poland’s Taddy Blazusiak was fourth the Factory GasGas and American Ryder LeBlond put in the fifth-fastest time.

Round two included all 61 riders competing on an 11-mile “long-course” in the order of the hot-lap results and only the top 25 riders earned a spot in the next round. Hart again set the standard with a 56:03.61 time. Blazusiak was next with a 57:07.33 lap. Bulgarian Teodor Kabakchiev made his mark with the third fastest. Lettenbichler was fourth and Spain’s Alfredo Gomez was fifth.

Mario Roman at 2022 TKO — **Sherco’s Mario Roman got on the podium in third. He still holds the lead in the championship with two rounds remaining.**

There was a last-chance qualification race among the four riders that just missed the cut and Arizona’s James Flynn took that spot to be the last rider to make it to the second round for the second year in a row.

That second round places the riders into five groups (four groups of five and one group of six that included the LCQ winner, Flynn). Those groups would be racing another loop on the “long-course” with some additional difficult sections added. The riders compete in their respective groups to take the top four spots to make up the 20 riders that make it to the main event. Hart won group one ahead of Hard Enduro GOAT Graham Jarvis, LeBlond and Israel’s Suff Salla.

Ryder LeBlond at 2022 TKO — **Ryder LeBlond was the top American at the TKO in seventh place. The young Pennsylvanian is continuing to impress.**

Roman won group two ahead of American Jordan Ashburn, Blasuzisak and multi-time Trials Champion Pat Smage.

Group three was won by Kabakchiev followed by FactoryOne Sherco’s Cody Webb, Poland’s Dominik Olszowy, and Germany’s Tim Apolle.

Lettenbichler took the win in group four with Czechoslovakia’s David Cyprian second, American Keith Curtis third and Cory Graffunder fourth.

In the fifth group, South Africa’s Wade Young finished first on a Sherco. Spain’s Alfredo Gomez was second, American Logan Bolopue was third and Mexican David Garza was fourth. The five group winners earn front-row starting positions and the second-place finishers start on row two and so on.

The main event was back on the short course with a 30-minute-plus-one-lap race, which ended up taking 37 minutes and 41 seconds to complete. Hart took the early lead and opened a small gap on Lettenbichler, who kept it close for the entire race but was never able to get close enough to make any pass attempts. But with the difficult hillclimbs, rocks and roots, it was always close enough to keep things interesting. In the end, Hart finished 1:19.58 ahead of his fellow KTM rider.

Roman had to make a couple of first-lap passes to get up to third place but he too was never able to get close enough to Lettenbichler to pose a threat. Young put in a good ride on his Sherco to finish in fourth position, 5:13.46 behind Hart. Kabakchiev started the race in third and dropped back to fifth, 7:46.71 behind the winner.

Gomez had to pass a few riders and ultimately finished sixth, just 10 seconds ahead of LeBlond, who was the top American on his Dellullo Racing Husqvarna in seventh place. LeBlond was the last rider on the lead lap and finished the main event in 46:12.34.

Jarvis, winner of the recent 2022 Red Bull Romaniacs event, finished eighth. Webb was ninth on his Sherco and Cyprian rounded out the top 10 on a KTM.

Wade Young at 2022 TKO — **Wade Young was one of the only riders to complete five laps, finishing fourth overall.**

“It feels amazing to be standing on the top of the podium,” said Hart. “I am stoked to get the win here in North America, these boys have been kicking my butt the last couple of weekends [Erzberg and Romaniacs].” The Canadian will now be looking for a second win in his home country at the Outliers Hard Enduro on August 27-28 in Calgary.

“Pretty stoked to be back racing in the U.S.,” said Lettenbichler. “I had a pretty hard day, I hurt my heel in Nashville at the Straight Rhythm which was a little frustrating, but I fought through it. Congrats to Mario who was riding good today and also to first place because he dominated today.”

“Thank you very much to the crowd who was yelling Mario all day,” said Roman. “I had a fantastic day and a good battle with the boys. Knockout one, I was riding too relaxed but Knockout two, I rode better and got a first-row start. In the main event, Teo made an aggressive pass in the first turn, and I almost crashed and had to overtake some riders and do a good job for the Sherco racing team.”

Taddy Blazusiak at 2022 TKO — **Former AMA EnduroCross Champion Taddy Blazusiak finished just outside the top 10.**

Finishing just outside the top 10 was former and multiple AMA EnduroCross Champion Taddy Blazusiak. “Overall [the race] has been really positive,” Blazusiak said. “Things were going good until the final when my lack of seat time due to injury caught up with me. Up until then I felt great on the bike and my speed was good, so I’m really happy about that. I just need more time on the bike to build up some fitness and that will make things easier. For sure it’s not the result I wanted but the bigger picture is that my speed is where it needs to be. We have two weeks until the next one and I’ll be on the bike as much as possible before we head to Canada.”

Louise Forsley at 2022 TKO — **Louise Forsley won the Women’s Pro class. Photo: Andrew Nguyen/WinPic Photography**

The Women’s Pro class competed along with the top amateurs on the more difficult race two and FactoryOne Sherco rider Louise Forsley took the win ahead of Beta USA’s Morgan Tanke. Nikki Russell rounded out the podium on a Husqvarna. Forsley took the AMA Grand Championship number one plate and impressively finished 32nd overall among all the amateur riders. CN