Red Bull KTM Factory Racing backed Mani Lettenbichler came out on top of a race-long battle with FMF KTM’s Trystan Hart to win the 2024 Red Bull Tennessee Knockout (TKO) at the Trials Training Center in Sequatchie, Tennessee. This was the fourteenth annual TKO and it was Lettenbichler’s second win at the event and his first since 2019.

The victory allowed the German to increase his lead in the FIM Hard Enduro championship, which has two remaining rounds for 2024. Hart put up a great fight and led multiple times but a mistake on the penultimate lap allowed Lettenbichler to take the lead back. South Africa’s Wade Young rounded out the podium riding a GasGas.

The long weekend of racing kicked off in downtown Nashville on Thursday night where American Cody Webb won the prologue straight rhythm event that took over Broadway Street with a man-made enduro course. Fellow American’s Colton Haaker and Ryder LeBlond rounded out the podium despite a strong list of riders representing seven different countries.

The pro racing kicked off on Saturday afternoon with a Hot-Lap on a nearly two-mile “short course” where Lettenbichler set the fastest time of six minutes and five seconds. Young was second fastest with a time of six minutes and fourteen seconds. Canada’s Hart was third fastest with a six minute and fifteen second lap. The UK’s Ashton Brightmore was fourth in six minutes and nineteen seconds and Spain’s Mario Roman rounded out the top five with a time of six minutes and twenty-two seconds. A total of sixty-six riders completed the Hot-Lap to move on to the three rounds of racing on Sunday.

On Sunday morning, the riders took on an eleven mile “long course” with the first knockout round. Only the top thirty riders moved on to the second knockout round. Lettenbichler again topped the results sheet with a time of fifty-four minutes and three seconds. Bulgaria’s Teodor Kabakchiev put in a strong ride that was just four hundredth of a second slower on his Sherco. Hart was again third, fifteen seconds back. Young and fellow South African Matthew Green rounded out the top five times. Jordan Ashburn, LeBlond, Will Riordan, David Cyprian and Colton Haaker finished sixth through tenth respectively.

There was a last-chance qualification race on a straight rhythm course among the four riders that just missed the top thirty and pro Trials competitor Josh Roper took that spot to be the last rider to make it to the second round.

The second-round changes format to place the thirty-one riders into five groups that race head-to-head. Four of those groups include six riders while the fifth group has seven riders including the LCQ winner. The riders take on the long loop with another mile of extremely difficult sections added. The top four finishers from each group earn spots in the twenty-rider main event with the winners of each group earning front row starting positions.

Lettenbichler dominated group one to take the win in just under one hour, which was over five minutes ahead of Mitch Brightmore. Ashburn and James Flynn earned the other two qualifying spots from this group.

Kabakchiev topped the second group ahead of LeBlond, Webb and Graham Jarvis, who was making a rare appearance at a race in the US. Kabakchiev and LeBlond battled throughout the entire

Hart won the third group of riders in a time of one hour and one minute. Australia’s Will Riordan finished second and Ashton Brightmore was third. Cooper Abbott took the fourth and final main event qualifying spot from this group.

Young won group four with Mario Roman just over one minute behind. Spain’s David Cyprian finished third and Hawaii’ Kawelo Huddy punched the final ticket to the main from group four.

Haaker won the fifth group to earn a front row starting spot for the main event alongside the other group winners. Spain’s Alfredo Gomez finished second, well clear of Green and Quinn Wentzel.

The twenty riders that qualified for the main event moved back to the short-course for a 35-minute plus one lap race that ended up taking forty-seven minutes and fifty-three seconds for the winner to complete. Hart took the early lead followed closely by Lettenbichler and Kabakchiev. Young was just about five second back in fourth position The order remained the same until Lettenbichler took over the lead on the third of seven laps. Kabakchiev started to drop back from the leading duo, which allowed Young to close in. On the fourth lap, Hart took the lead back and he held it until the penultimate lap when Lettenbichler capitalized on a mistake by the Canadian. Both riders pushed hard on the final lap and the gap between them held at five seconds, which proved to be enough for Lettenbichler to hold on for the win.

Young found his way past Kabakchiev take over third position on the fifth lap and he finished a little less than a minute and a half behind second and nearly a minute ahead of fourth placed Kabakchiev.

Eighteen-year-old Ashton, the younger of the two Brightmore brothers rounded out the top five on his Husqvarna. Colton Haaker came into the finish area in sixth place but mistakenly slowed down and launched his bike for fun just before the finish line, which handed the position to Rieju-backed Gomez, who was close behind. Haaker rolled across the line in seventh. Roman finished eight on his Sherco. LeBlond recovered from a crash on the first lap to finish ninth on a Husqvarna and Webb rounded out the top ten.

The second place finish by Trystan Hart earned him his fourth AMA US Hard Enduro Premier championship ahead of Cody Webb.

“We had a really good ride and Trystan was riding unbelievably good”, Lettenbichler said. “I didn’t do too good this week and got a little sick and was struggling to get the speed up for the intensity and I knew that this was super intense so it was not an easy one. I had a really good line at the hill-climb, but I was dead at the end, so I am definitely stoked to take the win here and get another TKO win.”

Hart won the AMA US Hard Enduro championship over Webb with his second-place finish but was disappointed to not take his fourth TKO win. “The race win was the goal today and the championship was a side thing because I was counting on that but the race win was my real goal but Mani is such a good rider that you have to be on point to beat him and I was a little off all day,” Hart said. “I was just a little off all day but in the main I took the holeshot and passed Mani a couple of times and we both made mistakes and I made the last one.”

“The race was good, super intense as always,” Young said. “I kind of just paced myself and got into my own rhythm, controlled my heart rate. I gained momentum and super stoked to get on the podium for the second time here at the TKO.”

2024 Red Bull Tennessee, Knockout Main Event Results

1. Manuel Lettenbichler, KTM, Germany
2. Trystan Hart, KTM, Canada
3. Wade Young, GasGas, South Africa
4. Teodor Kabakchiev, Sherco, Bulgaria
5. Ashton Brightmore, Husqvarna, Great Britain
6. Alfredo Gomez, Rieju, Spain
7. Colton Haaker, Husqvarna, USA
8. Mario Roman, Sherco, Spain
9. Ryder LeBlond, Husqvarna, USA
10. Cody Webb, Sherco, USA
11. Will Riordan, GasGas, Australia
12. Mitch Brightmore, Husqvarna, Great Britain
13. Jordan Ashburn, GasGas, USA
14. Graham Jarvis, Husqvarna, Great Britain
15. Matthew Green, KTM, South Africa
16. Francesc Moret Clota, Sherco, Spain
17. David Cyprian, KTM, Spain
18. Cooper Abbott, Sherco, USA
19. Quinn Wentzel, Rieju, USA
20. Kawelo Huddy, KTM, USA

Complete Pro Class results here.

The Women’s pro class competed along with the top amateurs on the more difficult Saturday race two and Rachael Gutish took the win over fellow Sherco rider Louise Forsley. Nikki Russell rounded out the podium on a Rieju. All three women chose to take on the Sunday pro course and Gutish and Forsley both managed to complete a lap in the time limit.

In addition to the pro racing, the Red Bull Tennessee Knockout crowned amateur champions in several classes. Saturday included two rounds of amateur racing with race two serving as the AMA Gand championship-deciding race. During that second race, Tennessee’s Chase Landers earned the number one spot with a winning time of fifty-four minutes and forty-six seconds on a KTM. Coran Calvert finished second on a Sherco over seven minutes back and Tucker Miller rounded out the top three riding a KTM. The top thirty riders also earned the opportunity to compete with the forty-six pre-qualified pro riders, which kicked off their racing on Saturday afternoon followed by three rounds of racing on Sunday. Landers managed to finish thirty-third in the first round, just missing a top 30 spot to move to round two.

Other Saturday class winners among nearly 500 participants included Boogie Rivera in Amateur B, Jose Julian Hernandez Rios in Amateur C, Brandon Wakefield in A Vet 30+, Drew Kirby in A Senior 40+, Stephen Thaxton in A Master 50+, Karol Nasuta in B 40+, Jordan Ouzts in 4-Stroke Sportsman, Carly Paet in Women’s Amateur and Gage Hill in Youth Lites 12-15.

Complete Amateur Class results here.

The ECR eMoto class was recognized for an AMA Grand Championship and the riders completed three rounds of racing over three days. Thirty-two electric motorcycle racers took on the course and the top twenty earned a spot in the championship deciding Sunday final, which was on course with the pro riders. Canada’s Spenser Wilton took the ECR eMoto AMA Grand Championship number one plate for the second time and was riding a Stark. Australian Conor Hennessy finished less than a minute behind riding a hybrid KTM chassis with custom an electric motor. Canada’s Joshua Long rounded out the podium riding an Arctic Leopard. Noah Kepple finished fourth on an Electric Motion and Maxwell Beaupre rounded out the top five riding a Surron. Five different manufacturers had bikes in the top five showing growing interest in the class. Several hundred people took the opportunity to test ride bikes in the Surron eMoto demo ride area throughout the weekend.

Learn more about the Red Bull Tennessee Knockout event here.