David Knight showed up to last weekend’s Snowshoe GNCC on a bike he bought and cleaned house, cashing in over $20,000 in the process. Now what?
In the world of off-road dirt biking, no name sums up the willingness to win more than David Knight.
He’s a GNCC champ, sure. Big deal. He’s also a World Enduro Champ, ISDE overall champ, Erzberg champ, the Last Man Standing, The Tough One champ, etc. etc. He’s even smoked Stefan Everts in a beach race. The guy can do it all. Oh, he’s also won the EnduroCross race thing a few times. There’s more. But it’s all the same. He shows up, he figures it out and he wins championships.
So what is he going to do without his BMW contract and no ride for the World Enduro Championships? The very, very lucrative deal (for Knight) between himself and the German manufacturer dissolved two weeks ago. Knight simply didn’t think he could win on the bike no matter what setup he bolted on. The bike didn’t work for him and he walked away. So, he bought a Kawasaki and spent three days building it into a bike he could win a GNCC on. It’s not about the bike, though. Really, it's not.
David Knight needs to find a home. And as we dig around looking for clues as to where he’ll land permanently for the rest of 2009, we hear whispers that the likeable guy from the Isle of Man will be settling down here in the states. After all, this is where the money and only major off-road championship is up for grabs.
Here’s my opinion on what David Knight will do:
Geico Powersports EnduroCross Triple Crown: The EnduroCross series (owned by the same company that owns this magazine and website) will pay $50,000 for anyone who wins all of the following rounds:
August 15th, Guthrie, Oklahoma
October 24th, Denver, Colorado
November 21st, Las Vegas, Nevada
This makes sense because Knight doesn’t even have to have his mind made up about what bike he’s going to ride until August (and that’s a whole different story). Plus, he’s probably still miffed that Taddy Blazusiak blocked his 50 grand two years ago in Vegas and he sort of needs the money now that he’s a privateer.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see DK at round one in Vegas later in July, though. Why not? What else is he going to do?
Ricky Dietrich, Damon Huffman and Taddy will likely be on their game. That will be some amazing racing.
GNCC: I think David Knight will probably be back for more GNCC races. His payday at the Snowshoe was more than enough to pay for a few flights back to the United Kingdom. And he knows how to win GNCC races. Paul Whibley likely would have put up more of a fight if he didn’t smack a deer during the race, but Knighter still made a point with his one-off win.
So, what bike will David Knight ride? His store-bought KX450F seemed to work pretty well but don’t be fooled by that idea: it was hardly stock. Where do you get full-factory WP suspension components to fit on a Kawasaki linkage, anyway? Carbon fiber-centered talon hubs are cool, too. I wonder if DK has any room left on his credit card…
Rumor has it American Baja legend Johnny Campbell is looking for an EnduroCross rider as well.
Whatever Knight does, it will be fun to watch him line up on the starting line. We’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear anything.