TWO DAYS OF WINNING | Bikesportnz

A summer scorcher or a soggy scramble, it’s all the same thing to KTM ace Hadleigh Knight.

The Atiamuri rider coped fantastically with contrasting conditions at the big annual Whakatane Summercross motocross near Whakatane at the weekend, racing away with a junior trophy on a sub-baked day one on Saturday and then backing that up with another class win on a saturated Sunday.

The double victory was certainly a great way for the 16-year-old Knight to herald his joining the high-profile CMR Red Bull KTM team.

On Saturday he raced his CMR Red Bull KTM SX250F to victory in the premier junior 12-17 years’ 250cc class – thanks to his 1-1-2 score-line – and then stole away with the Youth MX crown on Sunday, this time finishing 3-2-1 in the extremely treacherous slop.

A multiple-class ironman, Knight also finished runner-up in the junior 16-17 years’ 125cc class on the Saturday, ending the day 19 points behind Otago’s Courtney Duncan (Backflips Yamaha YZ125), the hat-trick queen who was simply unbeatable in this class on Saturday.

“It was just a matter of staying consistent and staying on board the bike,” explained Knight, who will be a year 12 student at the Taupo-nui-a-Tia College in the New Year.

“In the second Youth MX race on Sunday I crashed at the start and was the last rider to get away. I had a huge fight to get through the pack and end up claiming second place.

“In the last Youth MX race of the day I inherited the lead when leader Logan Blackburn crashed on the second lap. After that, I just checked out, put down some hot laps and stretched my advantage. It was a big winning margin in the end.”

Knight finished ahead of Rangiora’s Kairyn King (Yamaha) and Te Puke’s Logan Blackburn (Yamaha) respectively in the Youth MX grade.

The next big assignment for Knight is to tackle the annual Woodville Motocross at the end of January, following by the under-21 class at the four-round senior nationals, beginning near Timaru on February 10, and then the New Zealand Junior Motocross Championships in Taranaki in April.

Knight is supported by CMR Red Bull KTM, Motorex Oils, Shift apparel, Alpinestars, Addiction Streetwear, Taupo District Sports Advisory and Advance Physiotherapy.

Comments are closed.