Tough end to 2012 EWC series for Knight

David Knight’s participation in the 2012 Enduro World Championship drew to a close at the eighth and final round of the series, the GP of France held in Brignoles, where the three-time world champion returned to international competition following his recent lay-off from competition due to a stomach operation.

Well aware that he would be anything but well-prepared for the event, David nevertheless opted to compete and used the event as a first step towards rebuilding his bike fitness.

Unable to rest following his winning outing in the British Enduro Championship one week earlier, David made an impressive start to the GP of France and topped the Friday night super test. Third on the first special test on day one, David performed well during the opening two laps before fatigue set in and he was unable to attack the third and final lap. Ending the day ninth David was pleased to have finished.

Day two saw David improve to seventh in class. Making some alterations to his bike he again found the event tough, but once again pushed on to finish the day. In finishing both days of the GP of France David secured fourth in the Enduro 3 World Championship.

David Knight: “I always knew that this event would be tough because my bike fitness isn’t anywhere near where it needs to be following the time off I’ve had after my operation. Also, I travelled straight to France from last weekend’s British championship race and immediately started walking all the tests – I didn’t have any time to rest. It’s what I was expecting, so I just focused on getting to the finish of each day.

I really enjoyed the event, and it’s good for me to get two full days of racing under my belt. But it’s been pretty tough. Things started really well with the super test on Friday night. I felt good there and was looking forward to the first day. But it didn’t take long for me to start feeling tired, so it was just a case of pushing on and finishing the day.

Day two also started well enough. I went ok on the first test and then 20 seconds faster on the enduro test than I was on day one. So things were looking good. On the second lap I fell on the enduro test. I started getting tired then and making silly mistakes.

Then on the last lap I crashed again, into a pile of rocks. It was just a case of getting to the finish then. Obviously this hasn’t been the way I wanted to finish the world championship but finishing the event is an important part of getting over my surgery and getting back to full fitness.”

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