Dyer & Butler KTM headed north to the sandy circuit of Preston Docks for the opening round of the 2015 Michelin MX Nationals.
With the classes being combined in the ‘fastest 40’ a good qualifying session was going to be key. Steven Lenoir posted some fast laps early on and took pole in MX2 (third overall) while Liam Knight took sixth in MX2 (16th overall).
It was an average start in race one for both pilots against the 450 machines. Steven was just outside the top 10 and Liam just outside the top 20 on lap one.
Making headway fast, Steven and Liam both moved up a couple positions, leaving Steven the second placed MX2 rider around the halfway mark. Liam made a small mistake and dropped back a few places, only to pass them back in the closing stages.
Steven Lenoir took sixth overall (second in MX2) and Liam Knight finished 14th overall (seventh in MX2).
With the power disadvantage against the 450 machines, both riders struggled to get a good start for race two. Lap one, both riders were in a similar position to the first race but with the overall result being split, making passes early on was going to be key.
Lap nine saw Steven move into fifth and first in MX2 while Liam had now moved into 17th (eighth in MX2) and still pushing hard.
As the race came to an end, Liam moved up one more position to 16th and seventh in MX2 while Steven took fifth at the chequers and the win in the MX2 class.
Steven Lenoir finished his weekend first overall in MX2 and Liam Knight seventh overall.
“Today didn’t go too bad, qualified 16th,” said Liam Knight. “Race one I didn’t get a good start, I came back to seventh in MX2, not ideal really. Race two was the same really. I’m looking forward to my next race in Lyng for the Maxxis British Championship.”
Steven Lenoir commented: “Today went good, I had a really good qualifying, third and first in MX2. First race I had a really bad start, I came back through I was feeling pretty tight by the end and had a little arm pump and I had bad lines.
“Second race I had a better start, but still not great. I came back good, I had some good lines and I was playing. I had a lot of fun in that race. I came back to fifth and took the win in the MX2 class. It’s been a good weekend, feeling good and I’ll try to keep it cool and do it again.”
