KTM Enduro Factory Team rider David Knight claimed a convincing victory at the second running of the Maxxis Endurocross where the newly crowned Enduro 3 world champion brought his exceptional ’05 season to a triumphant close at the Orleans Arena, Las Vegas. In front of a sell out crown Knight dominated the 10-lap main event to claim his first ever American Motorcycle Association championship, earning 10’000 US dollars for his efforts.

But Knighter’s second visit to the Orleans Arena started in the worst possible way as he crashed heavily in the first turn of his heat race. Getting taken out by another rider Knight found his bike tangled together with that of trials ace Geoff Aaron. Losing valuable time trying to separate the two bikes, David set off last but one and almost half a lap down on the leading riders. Making his way steadily forward David struggled to hold on to his KTM properly having banged his left arm during the crash. Needing to finish inside the top two positions to pass directly through to the final Knight finished fourth and had to go the semi finals in order to qualify for the main event.

In his semi final Knight made no mistakes and comfortably topped the race to pass through to the main event.

Not getting the best of starts in either his heat or semi final race Knight opted to take no chances at the start of the final and rounded the first turn in last but one position. Having to jump across US enduro champion Mike Lafferty’s stricken bike exiting turn two, Knight found himself mid-pack half way around the opening lap. Quickly working his way forward David took the lead shortly after the second lap of the race and never looked back. Riding smoothly and without mistakes he opened up a huge lead, even managing to lap ’04 winner Ryan Hughes following several mistakes by the former supercross rider. Coasting his way though the final two laps Knight claimed the win and a rapturous applause of the 10’000 strong crowd.

David Knight: "I’m so pleased to have won because loads of great riders were racing this year. I knew I had what it took to win but after my first heat race I just wanted to get around the first couple of corners in the final without falling and then push hard to get to the front. I almost got taken out on the second corner but I managed to remain upright and just started picking riders off one by one. Ryan Hughes helped me by making some mistakes but I felt strong all the way through the race. It was a hard 10 laps but I didn’t make any mistakes and was able to ease off a little near the end of the race.

"Winning the Red Bull Last Man Standing event and now the Maxxis Endurocross is incredible - I’ve had a great couple of weeks in the US. Everyone at KTM US has been extremely helpful and the organizers of both events put on awesome races. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to bring a great season to an end."