We here at the TTC would also like to send out a HUGE thank you to all who helped us put on the First Annual Tennessee Knock Out Extreme Enduro.
We know it was a lot of hard work and we sure appreciate everyone’s special effort to make it happen. This event was a great success and we could not have done it without these people:
Greg and Wendy Clark, Wendy Roberts, Sadie Thompson
O.B.
Gary Smith, Jamie Gourley
Road Guards
Paul and Aaron Thistle, Cathy Priest, Barbara Ganley, Darrell Davis, Troy Roberts, Ian (Fro Man), Burke Breneman, Becky Melton, Alex Bedley, Austin Brown, Marisa Sinz, Papa Joe Terry, John Sipos, and Fast Eddie Faulkner.
Course Marshalls
Steve Glinski, Tim Cash
Layout
Becky Melton, Doug Caldwell, Kim Murrell, Mike Hathaway, Burke Breneman
First Responders
Griff and Alan Shirley
Scoring
Nathan Glinski
Shop
Angela Brown, Crystal Kee
And a very special thanks to Sean Finley, Digital Throttle, and Eric Peronnard, EPCN, for their help with organization, promotion, and all around everything!
From all of us at the TTC:
L to R: Alex Bedley, Charlie Roberts, Ashley Jackson, Catherine Bedley, Sadie Thompson, Dan Brown
The weather was expectedly hot and sticky, and the brutally rocky terrain and dust made for a tricky course in and around the surrounding canyons and hills of the TTC. The format for the race was creative, with both a long loop and a shorter course being utilized to pre-select a field of amateur racers and narrow down the stacked field to 25, and then finally ten, top racers.
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After multiple rounds of qualifiers, the TKO main event took place on the unbelievably difficult short course, which was approximately five minutes in length.
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With ten laps of racing for the victory, the final was extremely hot, brutal and according to Brown “way tougher than an outdoor motocross national.”
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Overall, the first-ever TKO was a huge success, and the buzz has already started about next year’s event
We’re still working on sorting through our large batch of Tennessee Knockout Extreme Enduro photos. In the meantime, here are some photos by Larry Mayo and Amina Moreau that we think you’ll enjoy (click thumbnails for a larger view):
1. Larry Mayo sent us these three photos of TKO winner Mike Brown:
Sequatchie, TN (August 28, 2011) – Tennessee native Mike Brown outlasted a tough field of over fifty riders to win the KENDA Tennessee Knockout, fueled by Monster Energy. The first time “American Extreme Enduro” lived up to its billing as a tough race as Brown noted at the finish that the 40 minute long main event “Was tougher than anything I have ever done. At the halfway mark, I thought I would not be able to finish but I was leading so I kept pushing”.
Cody Webb, the factory Beta rider and 2010 AMA Trials champion that has become a regular podium finisher in EnduroCross events finished second and was within striking distance of Brown on the final lap before stalling his bike. Bobby Prochnau, the super tough Canadian KTM rider finished third.
Taddy Blazusiak, the pre-race favorite was eliminated from the competition during the first Knockout round when a minor crash knocked the fuel injection system loose and forced him to pull out of the event. Blazusiak was a good sport though and stuck around all afternoon to cheer on the other riders.
The four round format started with a single timed lap on a very extreme “short” course that took Cody Webb three minutes and twenty five seconds to complete. Brown was just two seconds behind and GEICO Honda’s Kyle Redmond was another four seconds back. This set the starting order for the 50 riders that would go into Knockout round one with the fastest riders going first and getting the advantage of less dust but also the disadvantage of having to pick the lines for the first time on the ten mile “long” loop.
Brown showed his strength on the long loop with a 39 minute and 7 second time that set the standard. Webb was very close with a 39:25 lap and Prochnau came in with 39:56. Kyle Redmond was fourth at 40:59 and Am-Pro Yamaha’s Jordan Ashburn at 41:41. Paul Whibley was next in line followed by Colton Haaker, Rory Mead, Michael Williams and Dustin Gibson rounded out the top ten riders.
A total of twenty five riders moved forward to Knockout round two, which was a head to head race with five riders each in five groups. The top two riders in each group would move on to the ten rider final. Brown and Whibley qualified from group one. Webb and Haaker qualified out of group two. Prochnau and Mead qualified out of group three. Williams and Redmond qualified out of group four and Ashburn and Palmer qualified out of group five. Husqvarna’s Jamie Lanza and Ryan Sandoval were among the non-qualifiers along with GEICO Honda’s Scott Watkins and Kawasaki rider, Gary Sutherlin.
Brown rocketed to the front of the pack at the start of the ten lap main event while Webb found himself on the ground in the first turn. Prochnau ran second followed by Whibley while Colton Haaker and Rory Mead battled for forth. Webb moved past four other riders on the first lap, which took around four minutes.
Michael Williamson, a relatively unknown Tennessee based rider that turned heads all day with his speed unfortunately crashed after not making it up an extremely difficult alternate line up the side of a cliff and dropped out on the first lap. Brown pulled a few seconds gap and rode conservative lines while several riders battled for second. Webb finally got to second at the halfway point and began to reel Brown in. By then, Haaker had taken a tumble with an aggressive line on a downhill to take him out of contention.
Whibley had a chain derail on his YZ250 2-stroke on lap five and lost a few positions. After nearly 40 minutes of racing, Webb moved to within striking distance of Brown on the final lap but stalled and tipped over to provide the gap that Brown needed to take the victory. Rory Mead had also closed in on Prochnau but slid out in a turn while trying to take the final podium spot. Whibley climbed back up to fifth after battling with an impressive Ashburn. Redmond and Palmer were the final two finishers in seventh and eighth.
PRO CLASS RESULTS: 2011 Kenda Tennessee Knockout, fueled by Monster Energy
1. Mike Brown, KTM, USA
2. Cody Webb, Beta, USA
3. Bobby Prochnau, KTM, Canada
4. Rory Mead, Honda, New Zealand
5. Paul Whibley, Yamaha, New Zealand
6. Jordan Ashburn, Yamaha, USA
7. Kyle Redmond, Honda, USA
8. Wally Palmer, Christini, USA
9. Colton Haaker, KTM, USA
10. Michael Williams, Kawasaki, USA
See this PDF of the final results, including all rounds of the Sunday knockout as well as the Saturday Amateur competition.
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Sequatchie, TN (August 16, 2011) – The GEICO, Honda, JG Offroad team will have five riders taking part in the inaugural Kenda Tennessee Knockout, Fueled by Monster Energy. Kyle Redmond, Scott Watkins, Ryan Rodgers, Matt Crouch and Rory Mead will be flying the team JG Offroad colors. And all of these riders have the credentials to be contenders for podium positions.
Kyle Redmond has had top finishes at extreme events including Erzeberg, EncuroCross and Xtinction.
Scott Watkins has been a consistent front runner in the OMA series and GNCC events.
Ryan Rodgers is a former GNCC A Champion and Amateur EnduroCross champion.
Matt Crouch is a tough young rider from Texas that continues to move up the ranks.
Rory Mead is a New Zealander that surprised a lot of people by running up front at a few GNCC and finished 4th at the extremely tough and prestigious Snowshoe event.
GEICO, Honda, JG Offroad team owner, JT Bennett is enthusiastic about his team’s chances for this first time event that will take place at the Trials Training Center in Sequatchie, Tennessee. “We have a strong group of riders that all have a chance to run up front at this event and I am really excited to do well for KENDA since they are a new team sponsor and the primary backer of this event”. With five strong riders, the numbers are certainly on their side.
The 2011 Kenda Tennessee Knockout event will feature Expert racing on Sunday, August 28th. Amateur riders will get the opportunity to compete on much of the same course on Saturday, August 27th and the top finishers will have the opportunity to advance to the Sunday Expert finals with free entries.
Nathan Glinski rode large portions of the amateur course earlier this week on his Honda CRF230F, with a GoPro video camera attached to his helmet.
We’ve created two videos from his video footage: a 2-minute preview for spectators and an 11-minute preview for riders. Feel free to grab the embed code and post it wherever. You can also view the videos on the TTC Facebook page.
Sequatchie, TN (August 1, 2011) – Cody Webb, the 2010 AMA Trials Champion has confirmed that he will be racing his factory backed Beta at the upcoming Kenda Tennessee Knockout, fueled by Monster Energy. Webb spent some time in Europe this winter and competed in two rounds of the FIM World Indoor Enduro Championship and also competed in the “Hells Gate” Extreme Enduro. He logged impressive results at all of those events and especially at the extremely difficult Hells Gate event. So Webb is certainly a threat to take the first ever Tennessee Knockout.
“I have full commitment to showing up and riding the knockout. I am looking forward to it.” Webb stated. He has spent a lot of time competing in Trials events at the amazing Trials Training Center but this will be his first time “racing” at the facility. The multi round “Knockout” format will provide great spectating opportunities with three separate qualifiers narrowing the field down to ten riders that will compete in a head to head main event. Webb intends to be one of those ten riders that fights for the inaugural Tennessee Knockout victory.
The 2011 Kenda Tennessee Knockout event will feature Expert racing on Sunday, August 28th. Amateur riders will get the opportunity to compete on much of the same course on Saturday, August 27th and the top finishers will have the opportunity to advance to the Sunday Expert finals with free entries.
Better yet, download/save the PDF to your computer, print it out, and then post it at a motorcycle shop or other location near you. We’d appreciate it!
Sequatchie, TN (July 22, 2011) – Team Zip Ty Husqvarna will have two top riders on hand to try to take the top step of the podium at the first running of the KENDA Tennessee Knockout, fueled by Monster Energy.
Cory Graffunder and Jamie Lanza will be competing at round three of the GEICO EnduroCross series in Indianapolis just a few days before so they will make the short drive down to Tennessee’s Trials Training Center for the August 28th TKO. Both of these young riders have already proven their skill and tenacity with impressive results in big international events so either one of them could put a Husqvarna in the winner’s circle.
Cory Graffunder is arguably Canada’s top off road motorcycle racer and winner of the 2010 Xtinction Extreme Enduro in Canada as well as 4th place finisher in the 2010 EnduroCross championship. Graffunder has also put in a few trips to Europe for some Extreme Enduro action and has a few top ten finishes at Erzeberg, the most famous Extreme Enduro, so that experience should prove very valuable at the Tennessee Knockout.
Jamie Lanza has joined Graffunder on the Zip Ty Husqvarna team for 2011 and he too has proven his speed and strength in tough off road events with several great results at the ISDE as a member of the US Junior Trophy Team. Lanza is a crowd favorite at any event he competes in as his short stature and go for broke riding style grab the attention of everybody in attendance.
Ty Davis, one of the most versatile Motocross and off road motorcycle racers of all time has high expectations for his riders at the Tennessee Knockout. "Cory is really strong at these difficult events and Jamie is incredibly fit and never gives up so I believe that they can both be a threat for the win at this event” stated Davis. “It is great to have another good off road event that fits well with our EnduroCross travel schedule to showcase our riders and sponsors."
The 2011 Kenda Tennessee Knockout event will feature Expert racing on Sunday, August 28th. Amateur riders will get the opportunity to compete on much of the same course on Saturday, August 27th and the top finishers will have the opportunity to advance to the Sunday Expert finals with free entries.
They got accepted. The Smage Bros Riding Shows AGT page has this background text (containing one large error, which I’ve corrected and highlighted in bold):
Phil and Pat Smage are The Smage Bros., two motorcycle-riding brothers from a farm in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. This riding duo developed their love of motorcycles from their parents, who first met at a racetrack. Growing up, the brothers were taught by their parents how to ride. Finding they had both similar talents and a love for performing, the two formed the trick-riding group, The Smage Bros.
Phil and Pat began performing their act at local motorcycle shops, races and fairs during the spring and summer. The other part of the year found them competing in action sports competitions, including motocross, snowboarding and snowskating, with one following the sunand the other chasing the snow.
Their pursuits brought them a great deal of success. In 2007, Pat realized his dream of becoming the youngest National Endurocross MotoTrial Champion in the history of the sport. He went on to win the National Championship three additional times. Phil, who spent his free time traveling towards the snow, collected three national championships in snowskating at the Winter X Games. Even though the brothers were pulled to opposing climates, one thing always brought them back together: their love for entertaining people on motorcycles.
Here’s a video of their first appearance on AGT in New York in June.
Here’s the video of their performance in Las Vegas:
Here’s the video of their performance in Hollywood:
Here’s the video of the judges’ decision in Hollywood, moving them to the semi-finals:
Sequatchie, TN (July 19, 2011) – KTM has confirmed that Taddy Blazusiak and Mike Brown will compete in the first annual Kenda Tennessee Knockout, fueled by Monster Energy event at the Trials Training Center on August 28th. This new “American Extreme Enduro” will provide a great challenge to some of the world’s top off road motorcycle riders and will be very spectator friendly with multiple viewing areas.
Blazusiak, the Polish rider that has won the last two GEICO EnduroCross championships and FIM World Indoor Enduro championships to go along with prestigious wins at some of the world’s toughest Extreme Enduro events including Last Man Standing and Erzeberg (5x straight) is amazing to watch on any terrain and is quite the showman. “I enjoy attacking difficult obstacles and racing through sections that even Trials riders would find challenging” stated Blazusiak. “So I am really looking forward to competing in this new event and the multi round Knockout format will also provide a challenge”.
Tennessee’s Mike Brown has proven to be as tough as anybody on a motorcycle and he will try to use his local knowledge to challenge Taddy. “It should be hot and humid for this event and I live and train in this environment so that should help me deal with the challenge that will provide” Brown noted. “Plus, I should have a lot of local fans lining the course to help cheer me on.”
The 2011 Kenda Tennessee Knockout event will feature Expert racing on Sunday, August 28th. Amateur riders will get the opportunity to compete on much of the same course on Saturday, August 27th and the top finishers will have the opportunity to advance to the Sunday Expert finals with free entries.
The North American Trials Series (NATS) hosts competitions for US and Canadian bicycle trials riders and last weekend, they held an event here at the TTC during our Youth Nationals/Women’s Open.
Organizer Michael Friddell has posted a summary of the event that starts out:
What a great weekend at the Trials Training Center! Considering that it was pouring rain and slippery as can be just the weekend before, we got pretty lucky. It was a bit hot and muggy out in the main field but much cooler up the creek and under the trees where the sections were.
This year I set our sections in the midst of the Youth National mototrials sections so that the riders could see each other ride and the spectators could enjoy both. The tricky thing about mototrials sections is that they set a lot of them (20+) and they use different ones on Saturday and Sunday. As it happened, they didn’t use the ones closest to our sections on Saturday. Still, this might have been for the best since they seemed to have quite a lot of chaos going on. In the end, it worked well… (continued here)
We here at the TTC would also like to send out a HUGE thank you to all who helped us put on the First Annual Tennessee Knock Out Extreme Enduro.
Mike Tosh and Gus Niewenhous at Kenda Tire;
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