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Announcements

2022 Red Bull Tennessee Knockout Extreme Enduro Schedule Confirmed; Amateur Entries open on December 15th

2021 TKO Billy Bolt – Photo by Future7Media

The twelfth annual Red Bull Tennessee Knockout (TKO) is confirmed for the weekend of August 12-14, 2022, at the Trials Training Center in Sequatchie, Tennessee. The TKO will again be a part of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship (HEWC), which will attract the world’s top Hard Enduro riders.

The racing format will be like past years with a Prologue on Friday to set amateur racer starting positions followed by two rounds of amateur racing on Saturday and a four-round Sunday competition. The event will also continue to serve as the AMA Grand Championship for Extreme Off-Road racing.

“The 2021 TKO was the best one yet with Billy Bolt edging out Manni Lettenbichler for the win,” said Eric Peronnard, co-producer of the Tennessee Knockout. “It was amazing to be a part of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship and we learned a lot about how we can improve the event for the riders and spectators for 2022.”

TKO will again pre-qualify the top riders to the four-round Sunday competition. This will include top riders from major US and international off-road racing series and events. Any rider that finished in the top 26 on Sunday at the 2021 TKO, as well as riders that have qualified for a previous TKO Sunday main event, will be qualified directly into the 2022 TKO Sunday program.

The Saturday program will include two rounds of racing and will serve as the AMA Extreme Off-Road Grand Championship for Amateur riders. The overall Amateur winner will be awarded the AMA Extreme Off-Road Grand Championship number one plate. Classes will be available for A, B, C, Women Pro, Women Amateur, and 45+ but only the overall Amateur and to 45+ rider will earn AMA Grand Championship number 1 plates.

New for 2022, the top 50 amateur finishers from the 2021 TKO will earn a spot directly into Saturday round two. Amateur riders will also be able to earn spots directly into round two via several AMA Extreme Enduro regional championship events. Riders that do not qualify via one of the AMA regional events can sign up for one of 500 open spots that will compete in a morning qualifying race that can earn a spot in the championship final on Saturday. The top 30 finishers from Saturday will be invited to Sunday’s expert program.

There will be a Women’s pro class that will start among the amateur riders in race two based on their prologue time. This is also an AMA Grand Championship class. A separate Women’s amateur class will be available and will compete in Saturday race one and start among all the amateur riders based on their prologue qualification time.

Amateur registration opens at 6:00 pm CST on Wednesday, December 15, 2021. There are just 500 spots available, and entries have sold out in just a couple of hours in the past so please plan to get your entry in as soon as it opens. Pre-qualified amateur riders (top 50 from 2021 Amateur TKO race two) will not need to pre-enter. The registration link will be available here on TKO blog.

Pre-Qualified Amateur Riders for 2022 TKO Race Two

Jared Lambe
Tobin Miller
Jackson Davis
Dawson Maddox
Rodrico Lopes
Ezra Prine
Robert Cornwell
Tyler Soriano
Joe Nemeth
Joseph Toole
Drew Kirby
Mason Rutledge
Wade Barone
Agustin Pascal
Jesse Reichard
Shelby Turner
Carter Bouwens
Zachary Cleland
Gauge Logan-Key
Joshua Lau
Chance Daly
Michael Cook
Devin Funaro
Ryan Gouveia
Joseph Van Roekel
Lucas Veloso
Jared Kuehnhold
Connor Nejedly
Chance Baker
Justin Remley
Alex Aebersold
Maverik Thaxton
Jamison Stachel
Will Presson
Travis Wilson
Ronny Vena
Timothy Baroni
Franklin Atwell
Carl LeBlond
Spencer Ricketts
Daniel Anderson
Jared Jasicki
Jacob Edwards
David Wolfe
Brian Martinson
Louise Forsley
Kristjan Thordarson
Brent Hanke
P. Trent Whisenant

About the Red Bull Tennessee Knockout (TKO)

The Tennessee Knockout first took place in 2011 and has been hosted at the Trials Training Center in Sequatchie, Tennessee every year since then. The TKO is one of the premier off-road motorcycle races in the US, attracting the top American and International riders. For 2021, the event became part of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship (HEWC). Tennessee Native Mike Brown won the first two events in 2011 and 2012 with Californian, Cody Webb close behind both times. Webb then went on a six-year run of winning TKO, topping many of the best riders in the world in the process. Jonny Walker, Graham Jarvis, Wade Young, Mario Roman and Manuel Lettenbichler all challenged Webb but the American was unbeatable.

A knee injury forced Webb to miss the 2019 TKO and Germany’s Lettenbichler became the first international rider to win the event. In 2020, Canadian Trystan Hart broke through for a win over Webb. In 2021, the UK’s Billy Bolt edged out Lettenbichler for the win and Hart rounded out the podium in front of the best Hard Enduro riders in the world. We look forward to seeing who will take the top step in 2022.

Announcements

Red Bull Tennessee Knockout Extreme Enduro on track for August 13-15; Prologue Straight Rhythm event added to Saturday afternoon


Final plans are coming together for the eleventh annual Red Bull Tennessee Knockout (TKO). The Trials Training Center, in Sequatchie, Tennessee will host the event on August 13-15, 2021. The TKO serves as the AMA Grand Championship for Extreme Off-Road and the event is still planned to be part of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship (HEWC) despite the very challenging global travel restrictions. So, the top riders from around the world will face off against the best North American hard enduro riders for a $10,000 purse

The top riders are automatically qualified into the Sunday pro racing and 400 amateur riders have entered to race on Saturday to compete for the AMA Amateur Grand Championship for Extreme Off-Road. Saturday is a two-round format with some riders qualifying directly into the amateur championship-deciding race two via nine AMA regional events. The top thirty finishers from Saturday earn the opportunity to move on to the Sunday racing to compete with the pre-qualified riders.

Saturday also includes both amateur and pro women’s classes. The amateur women will compete in Saturday race one and the pro-women will compete in Saturday race two and with the winner earning the 2021 AMA Grand Championship #1 plate.

New for 2021, Saturday afternoon will include a Prologue Straight Rhythm event for the pro men and pro-women riders. There will be an additional purse payout for both the men and women. More details to come on this event.

“We have been working hard to make the 2021 Red Bull Tennessee Knockout special,” said Eric Peronnard, co-producer of the Tennessee Knockout. “We have some completely new sections that we will be using for the main event that will challenge the riders and be more exciting for the spectators. We will also add a Prologue Straight Rhythm to the Saturday afternoon schedule for the pro men and pro-women, and that will be an exciting way to cap the Saturday racing.”

The 2021 TKO will again be featured on Red Bull TV with more details to be announced.

Trystan Hart (center) won the 2020 AMA Tennessee Knockout over Cody Webb (left) and Benjamin Herrera. Photo: Sam Carbine / Red Bull Content Pool
Trystan Hart earned his first TKO win in 2020 and has moved to the FMF KTM Factory team for 2021. Photo: Shan Moore
Cody Webb has won the TKO six times but has not won since 2018, so he is hungry for a seventh win. Photo: Sam Carbine / Red Bull Content Pool
Many of the top international riders have competed in the Tennessee Knockout in the past. Germany’s Mani Lettenbichler won the 2019 TKO over Spain’s Mario Roman and South Africa’s Wade Young. But 2021 will mark the first time that most of the top international riders will all be competing at the TKO at the same time.
2021 will include both amateur and pro-women classes for the first time. The amateur women will race in Saturday race one while the pro-women will compete in Saturday race two for the AMA Grand Championship Off-Road #1 plate. Rachel Gutish (center) topped Shelby Turner (left) and Louise Forsley in 2020. Photo: Shan Moore
Announcements

Post-TKO Hard Enduro Master Class offered by Cody Webb and Mario Roman on Aug 16 at the TTC

Enduro pros Cody Webb (@codywebb2) and Mario Roman (@marioroman74) will be offering an all-day Hard Enduro Master Class at the Trials Training Center (@trialstrainingcenter) on Monday, August 16, the day after the TKO.

See the details on the Eventbrite page.

Announcements

2021 Red Bull Tennessee Knockout Extreme Enduro schedule confirmed; Amateur entries open on Dec 10

The 11th annual Tennessee Knockout (TKO) has been confirmed to take place on the weekend of August 13-15, 2021 at the Trials Training Center in Sequatchie, Tennessee. The event is expected to be part of the WESS Enduro World Championship as was initially planned for 2020 prior to the Coronavirus pandemic forcing the series to take a year sabbatical.

The racing format will be like past years with a Prologue on Friday to set amateur racer starting positions followed by two rounds of amateur racing on Saturday and a four-round Sunday competition. The event will also continue to serve as the AMA Grand Championship for Extreme Off-Road racing.

“We have had ten great years of TKO events and look forward to starting on the next chapter with more exciting news to be shared in the coming months,” said Eric Peronnard (@ericperonnard), co-producer of the Tennessee Knockout. “We are working on a few new ideas and improvements as well as working with WESS (@iridewess)  to be a part of their 2021 series, as we originally planned for 2020.”

Red Bull will continue to be a partner with the TKO event in 2021 with plans for broadcast coverage. Tune-in information to follow.

The Tennessee Knockout is one of the premier off-road motorcycle races in the US, attracting the top American and International riders. Tennessee Native Mike Brown won the first two events with Californian, Cody Webb close behind both times. Webb then went on a six-year run of winning TKO, topping many of the best riders in the world in the process. Jonny Walker, Graham Jarvis, Wade Young, Mario Roman, and Manuel Lettenbichler all challenged Webb but the American was unbeatable. A knee injury forced Webb to miss the 2019 TKO and Germany’s Lettenbichler became the first International rider to win the event. In 2020, Canadian Trystan Hart broke through for a win over Webb, and Chile’s Benjamin Herrera. With more international riders expected, who will stand on the top step of the podium in 2021?

TKO will again pre-qualify the top riders to the four-round Sunday competition. This will include top riders from major US and International off-road racing series and events. Any rider that finished in the top 26 on Sunday at the 2020 TKO, as well as riders that have qualified for a previous TKO Sunday main event, will be qualified directly into the 2020 TKO Sunday program. The expert riders will be competing for a $10,000 purse.

The Saturday program will include two rounds of racing and will serve as the AMA Extreme Off-Road Grand Championship for Amateur riders. The overall Amateur winner will be awarded the AMA Extreme Off-Road Grand Championship number one plate (Additional non-championship classes will be available for A, B, C, and 45+). Amateur riders can earn spots directly into round two via several AMA regional championship events. Riders that do not qualify via one of the AMA regional events can sign up for one of 400 open spots that will compete in a morning qualifying race that can earn a spot in the championship final on Saturday. The top 30 finishers from Saturday will earn a spot in Sunday’s expert program.

Amateur registration opens at 6:00 pm CST on Thursday, December 10, 2020. There are just 400 spots available and entries have sold out in just a couple of hours in the past so please plan to get your entry in as soon as it opens. The registration link will be available here on the TKO website.

There will also be a pro Women’s class with a Saturday morning qualifying session and Saturday afternoon main event. This is also an AMA Grand Championship class. A separate Women’s amateur class will be available as well but will not be an AMA Extreme Off-Road Grand Championship class.

Trystan Hart (center) won the 2020 AMA Tennessee Knockout over Cody Webb (left) and Benjamin Herrera. Photo: Sam Carbine / Red Bull Content Pool
The Trials Training Center provides challenging and scenic terrain for the riders and fans. Photo: Sam Carbine / Red Bull Content Pool
Max Gerston and Benjamin Herrera await the start of the 2020 TKO. Photo: Sam Carbine / Red Bull Content Pool

Check out the videos in the right sidebar of the TKO website for highlights of some of the previous Tennessee Knockout events.