Just a couple of years ago, Ben Kelley raced the Saturday qualifier to earn a spot in the Sunday TKO action
The 2019 Kenda Tennessee Knockout will take place at the Trials Training Center on August 16-18, 2019. The riders below have earned a spot directly into the Sunday expert racing.
Any rider that finished in the top 26 on Sunday at the 2018 TKO will be qualified directly into the 2019 TKO Sunday program. In addition, past TKO main event qualifiers and top off-road riders from other major US and International racing series and events will be invited directly into the Sunday program. The riders below have already earned a Sunday invite with a free entry:
Cody Webb
Manuel Lettenbichler
Colton Haaker
Trystan Hart
Wade Young
Mario Roman
Ben Kelley
Jonny Walker
Kyle Redmond
Billy Bolt
Benjamin Herrera Ried
Josh Toth
Lars Enockl
Taylor Robert
Jordan Ashburn
Noah Kepple
Steward Baylor
Quinn Wentzel
Ty Tremaine
Chris Satterfield
Mitch Carvolth
Geoff Aaron
Ty Cullins
Casey Satterfield
Paul Bolton
Taddy Blazusiak
Cooper Abbott
Grayson Gonsalves
Alfredo Gomez
Graham Jarvis
Grant Baylor
Thad DuVall
Mason Ottersberg
Chuck Delullo
Dustin McCarthy
Kendall Norman
Giacomo Redondi
Kailub Russell
Brennan Perreira
Travis Teasdale
Nick Burson
Zach Bell
Cristobal Guerrero
Max Gerston
Blake Gutzeit
Ryan Wells
Nick Fahringer
Evan Smith
Ryan Smith
Gary Sutherlin
Trevor Bollinger
Pat Smage
James Stearns
David Cyprian
Chance Fullerton
Cory Buttrick
Eric Yorba
Josh Strang
Daniel Blanc-Gonnet
Kealoha Estrella
Pol Tarres
Dalton Shirey
Justin Seeds
Ricky Russell
Alexander Niederer
Cory Graffunder
Keoni Akina
Clayton Gerstner
Andrew DeLong
Justin Wallis
Samuel Fastle
Wally Palmer
Ryan Gouveia
Craig DeLong
Philipp Scholz
Tyler Lynn
Dante Olivera
Layne Michael
Andreas Niederer
Josh Rooken-Smith
Austin Lee
Kyle Tichenor
Ryder Lafferty
Blayne Thompson
Karl Davis Jr.
Kevin Dupuis
Joseph Wasson
Russell Bobbitt
Cole Shondeck
Spencer Wilton
Cody Miller
George Kowalski
Alex Bedley
Additional riders may be added prior to the 2019 event. The top 30 Saturday Amateur riders will also earn a spot in the Sunday racing program.
2019 will also a Women’s class with a Saturday morning qualifying session and Saturday afternoon main event.
FMF KTM Factory Racing-backed Cody Webb (@codywebb2) won his sixth straight Kenda Tennessee Knockout despite a recent injury and stacked field of talented riders from around the world. After four rounds of racing that added up to nearly three hours, Germany’s Manuel “Manni” Lettenbichler (@m_letti304) finished second on a KTM and Spain’s Mario Roman (@marioroman74) rounded out the podium on his Sherco.
Webb (center), Lettenbichler (right) and Roman earned the top three postions at the 2018 Kenda Tennessee Knockout. Photo: Darrin Chapman
The multi-round Tennessee Knockout started with 262 Amateur entries competing on Saturday in a two-race format that allowed the top thirty riders to move forward to compete in the four round Sunday competition that included thirty-one pre-qualified pro riders. That pre-qualified list included the top North American and International Extreme Enduro racers. Hawaii’s Kekoa Estrella took the Amateur win to earn the AMA Amateur Extreme Enduro Grand National Championship and move forward to Sunday.
The Sunday morning program started with a Hot Lap on a mile long “short course” and Webb started the day off with a 4:33 lap to earn the first starting position for the next Knockout round. Wade Young, the 2018 Red Bull Romaniacs winner, set the second fastest time at 4:43. Lettenbichler got off to a good start with the third fastest time at 5:12. Roman had the fourth fastest time at 5:26. Husqvarna’s Colton Haaker was rounded the time five with a 6:06 lap.
The second round sent the riders out on a fourteen-mile loop in thirty second intervals, based on the hot lap times. Young and Lettenbichler erased their gaps to Webb and the three riders battled closely for several miles before Young finally opened the gap in the last few miles. Young set the fastest time at 1:08:54. Lettenbichler was second fastest at 1:09:30 and Webb was third at 1:10:20. Roman set the fourth fastest time at 1:15:47 and Austria’s Lars Enockl was fifth at 1:19:57. Only the fastest twenty-six riders moved on to round three and the remaining riders were knocked out of the competition.
Round three switched from the riders racing the track against the clock to a multi-rider head-to-head format. The fastest twenty-five riders were split into five groups of five and a 26th rider was added to group six as the LCQ alternate. The straight-line LCQ competition was not held due to race one taking longer than expected due to the difficult course. Haaker, Lettenbichler, Webb, Roman and Enockl won their respective groups to earn front row starting positions. The second and third place finishers in each group also moved on to the fifteen-rider main event.
The main event moved back to the short course and would be a 30-minute plus one lap battle, which ended up taking 41 minutes and 31 seconds for Webb to complete. Haaker jumped into the lead off the start and led the field into the woods and held that spot until he struggled to make it up a tough climb exiting the water fall that would prove to be one of the most challenging obstacles for all the riders. Webb capitalized on Haaker’s mistake to take the lead and quickly opened a small gap on the field. Roman and Young were not far behind as they completed the first lap while Haaker and Lettenbichler were another 20 plus seconds back in fourth and fifth. On lap two, Young and Haaker struggled again on the same hill allowing Lettenbichler to pass both of them and Young also passed Haaker in the melee.
The top five remained the same for several laps with Roman closing in on Webb. At the halfway point, Roman began to fall back from Webb and Lettenbichler ended up passing him for second on lap five of seven. This ended up setting the final top five results, with Webb finishing 1:28 ahead of Lettenbichler. Roman was 2:15 behind the leader and Young ended up finishing fourth, 5:17 back. Haaker went a lap down on the final lap but held fifth.
Webb broke his foot at Erzberg in June, so he had limited preparation for this event. “I was definitely worried, especially with all the competition coming over from Europe,” Webb said. “Some of Hard Enduro’s biggest hitters came over here and I had eight weeks of couch surfing and only eight days on the bike since my injury so I was happy to get another win. I kind of conserved some energy in those early races and I think that helped me for the main, but I still felt like I was going to die out there.”
Cody Webb has been unstoppable at the Kenda Tennessee Knockout for the past six years now. Photo: Darrin Chapman
Lettenbichler, the twenty-year-old German who has had great season, including podium finishes at Erzberg and Romaniacs was impressive in his first TKO visit. “It was a nice event, I really enjoyed it, the main event was super gnarly with the slippery rocks and humidity, it is not like this in Germany,” Lettenbichler said. “I am super proud of second place and I passed Mario a few laps from the end, so I am stoked about that.”
Germany’s Manni Lettenbichler was impressive in his first Tennessee Knockout appearance. Photo: Darrin Chapman.
Roman finished third at the TKO for the second consecutive year. “I came here with more preparation because last year I suffered a lot, so I prepared more for the short, sprint main event,” Roman said. “I have to thank Sherco USA and the friends I met last year for helping me for this event.”
Mario Roman finished third at the TKO for the second consecutive year. Photo: Darrin Chapman
Team SRT-Husqvarna backed Trystan Hart had a pretty quiet day to finish sixth in his first ever TKO. Enockl finished seventh on his GasGas. Tennessee’s Jordan Ashburn finished eighth on his Beta. Ben Kelley took ninth on his Trail Jesters KTM and Chris Satterfield rounded out the top ten on his KTM.
Benjamin Herrera Ried, from Chile finished eleventh on a Beta. Casey Satterfield (Chris’s brother), finished twelfth on a KTM. Quinn Wentzel rode a Husqvarna to finish thirteenth. Grayson Gonsalves rode another Husqvarna to fourteenth and Chuck DeLullo, a former GNCC ATV Champion rounded out the top fifteen.
Beta’s Rachel Gutish (@rachel_gutfish) took the Saturday Women’s class win ahead of Nikki Russell and Allie Dorsey. The women put on an exciting race for the fans as the technical obstacles challenged the riders, but they proved to be incredibly resilient.
Rachel Gutish earned the top spot in the Women’s class. Photo: Darrin ChapmanGutish (center), Nikki Russell (right) and Allie Dorsey put on a great show on the tough track to take the top three spots in the women’s class. Photo: Darrin Chapman
2018 Kenda Tennessee Knockout Main Event Results:
Cody Webb, KTM
Manuel Lettenbichler, KTM
Mario Roman, Sherco
Wade Young, Sherco
Colton Haaker, Husqvarna
Trystan Hart, Husqvarna
Lars Enockl, GasGas
Jordan Ashburn, Beta
Ben Kelley, KTM
Chris Satterfield, KTM
Benjamin Herrera Ried, Beta
Casey Satterfield, Husqvarna
Quinn Wentzel, Husqvarna
Grayson Gonsalves, Husqvarna
Chuck DeLullo, Husqvarna
Keep an eye here on the TKO blog for a video recap within a few days.
Quinn Wentzel (@quinn_wentzel), a multi-time Kenda Tennessee Knockout top ten finisher, has confirmed that he will be competing again at the 2018 TKO. The Husqvarna backed Hard Enduro, EnduroCross and Pro Trials competitor from Ohio has finished at the front of several Hard Enduro events in 2018, including a win at the Groundhog, 3rd at the Bad Medicine at Fallen Timbers, 5th at the Mad Moose and 9th at the King of the Motos. Wentzel also won the Battle of the Goats in 2017. Wentzel finished 9th at the 2017 TKO and will be aiming to improve on that this coming weekend.
Quinn Wentzel has raced most of the previous seven Kenda Tennessee Knockout events and earned multiple top ten finishes. He will be back looking for more in 2018
Wentzel will join a long list of top North American and International riders that includes Cody Webb, Colton Haaker, Josh Toth, Ben Kelley, Trystan Hart, Wally Palmer and Jordan Ashburn that will face off against Spain’s Mario Roman, South Africa’s Wade Young and Germany’s Manuel Lettenbichler.
Team SRT-Husqvarna (@husqvarnamotorcyclesusa & @srtoffroad) has confirmed that Trystan Hart (@trystanhart_84) and Wally Palmer (@wildwallypalmer) will be competing at the 2018 Kenda Tennessee Knockout this coming weekend. The Team SRT-Husqvarna riders will likely leave an impression on the fans at the 8th annual TKO, which will take place this coming weekend, August 18-19, at the Trials Training Center, in Sequatchie, Tennessee.
Trystan Hart will likely surprise some fans that are not familiar with him
Hart burst onto the North American off-road racing scene over the past couple of years with multiple wins at very diverse events. The Canadian is also the current AMA EnduroCross Junior Champion (riders 21 and under) and finished second in the 2017 championship behind Cody Webb. This will be Hart’s first attempt at the Tennessee Knockout but don’t be surprised to see him running at the front.
Wally Palmer is always a crowd favorite
Palmer has raced most of the past TKO events and is always a crowd favorite. The New Jersey native is well known for hitting difficult obstacles with aggression and throwing in some style for the fans.
Hart and Palmer join a long list of top North American and International riders that includes top American riders Cody Webb, Colton Haaker, Josh Toth, Ben Kelley, Max Gerston and Jordan Ashburn that will face off against Spain’s Mario Roman, South Africa’s Wade Young and Germany’s Manuel Lettenbichler.
KTM will have a strong team of riders aiming to take the 2018 Kenda Tennessee Knockout title. Cody Webb (@codywebb2) and Josh Toth (@joshtoth_) from the FMF KTM Factory Racing Team (@ktmfactoryracing) will be joined under the KTM tent by Ben Kelley (@benkelley530) on the Trail Jesters KTM Racing Team (@trailjesters) mount. And the team will also host Germany’s Manuel Lettenbichler (@m_letti304). All four riders will be racing the KTM 300 XC-W TPI two-stroke. The TKO will take place on the weekend of August 18-19 at the Trials Training Center in Sequatchie, Tennessee.
Cody Webb will be aiming for a sixth straight Kenda Tennessee Knockout title in 2018. Photo by Adam Booth
Webb, the five-time TKO winner and defending champion is also the current AMA EnduroCross and FIM Super Enduro World Champion. He grew up competing in Trials events on the TTC property and has used that local knowledge of the terrain to fend off world-class talent that has included Graham Jarvis, Jonny Walker, Wade Young, Mario Roman, Kyle Redmond, and Max Gerston to win five straight Tennessee Knockout titles. A broken foot at the Erzberg Rodeo in June has kept him off the bike until this week so this may prove to be his most challenging TKO yet.
Josh Toth will be competing in his first TKO in 2018 but the GNCC XC-2 champion should be a contender for a top spot
Toth is the defending GNCC XC-2 champion and he is currently tied for the lead in the 2018 AMA National Enduro championship. He has had a strong 2018 season with five GNCC XC-2 wins and his first National Enduro win at the most recent event. Toth has won extreme events including the 2017 Tough Like RORR so he will be an exciting rider to watch at his first ever TKO.
Ben Kelly won the 2018 Tough Like RORR to go along with four GNCC XC-2 wins this season so far
Kelley burst onto the TKO scene in 2016 with a fourth-place finish after qualifying through the Saturday amateur program. That combined with other strong results helped earn him the Trail Jesters KTM ride for 2017 and 2018. Kelly has four 2018 GNCC XC-2 wins and currently leads the points. He also backed that up with a win at the 2018 Tough Like RORR. Kelley is certainly capable of a podium finish.
Manni Lettenbichler has had an amazing 2018 season that has included podium finishes at both Erzberg and Red Bull Romaniacs. This will be his first TKO. Photo – Future7Media
Manuel Lettenbichler is a second generation Extreme Enduro racer. His father, Andreas, was one of the pioneers of Extreme Enduro competition and was a co-winner of the 2015 Erzberg Rodeo. Twenty-year-old “Manni” has had an amazing 2018 season that includes podium finishes at both Erzberg and Romaniacs. He also won the Red Bull Rocks and Logs event in Canada. It will be great to see the German competing at his first TKO.
Look for more top riders to be confirmed in the coming days as we close in on the event.
Colton Haaker (@coltonhaaker), the 2016 AMA EnduroCross and 2017 FIM Super Enduro champion has confirmed that he will be back for the 2018 Kenda Tennessee Knockout. The Rockstar Husqvarna Factory Racing Team (@rockstarhusky) rider had to miss the 2017 event due to injury. The eighth annual TKO will take place at the Trials Training Center, in Sequatchie, Tennessee on the weekend of August 18-19.
Colton Haaker has proven to be one of the best EnduroCross and Super Enduro racers in the world. He will be aiming to prove that he can translate that talent to a top finish at the 2018 TKO. Photo: Future7Media
Haaker grew up competing in Trials events and spent a lot of time at the Trials Training Center (@trialstrainingcenter) honing his skills as a teenager. He transitioned to EnduroCross and has been one of the top riders in that series for the past ten years and had his best year in 2016, winning five of the eight events and the championship. The Northern California native has competed at the TKO several times but has so far been unable to make it to the podium. He certainly has the skills necessary to change that in 2018.
Look for more top riders to be confirmed in the coming days as we close in on the event.
Beta USA (@betausa) will have two of their American factory riders, Max Gerston (@maxgerston) and Jordan Ashburn (@jashburn7) on hand for the 2018 Kenda Tennessee Knockout and will also host South African, Travis Teasdale (@travisteasdale69). The eighth annual TKO will take place at the Trials Training Center, in Sequatchie, Tennessee on the weekend of August 18-19.
Max Gerston had a solid fourth-place finish at the 2017 TKO and wants to make the podium bad in 2018
Gerston is the defending AMA West Hare Scramble Champion and veteran top EnduroCross racer that won the Junior championship as he came up through the ranks. The Arizona native has the skills to compete at the front of the pack in just about any type of off-road motorcycle competition and will be a threat for a podium at the TKO. He just missed the podium with a fourth-place finish in 2017.
Jordan Ashburn will give the Tennessee fans someone to cheer for as he tries to put his Beta on the podium
Ashburn is a Tennessee native that is very familiar with the local terrain found at the Trials Training Center and was very impressive at the 2017 TKO, his first on the factory Beta. He overcame some challenges at the end of the race to finish a strong fifth. Ashburn’s primary focus is the GNCC and Full Gas Sprint Enduro series but as he proved last year, he can do well at Extreme Enduro events as well.
South Africa’s Travis Teasdale will be competing in his first TKO but has years of experience competing around the world at the toughest events to apply to the TTC terrain. Photo: Future7Media
Teasdale, who is just twenty-one years old, is a regular on the World Extreme Enduro scene with several top finishes in many of the major events including a sixth-place finish at the 2018 Erzberg Rodeo. This will be his first time racing the TKO and he can be expected to be among the elite group challenging for the podium.
Look for more top riders to be confirmed in the coming weeks.
Sherco has confirmed that both Wade Young (@wadeyoung55) and Mario Roman (@marioroman74) will be competing at the 2018 Kenda Tennessee Knockout on August 19th. Both riders are past podium finishers at the TKO and will be a serious threat to take the win.
Wade Young just took the win at the 2018 Red Bull Romaniacs so he has momentum coming into the TKO
Young just won the 2018 Red Bull Romaniacs event, arguably one of the toughest Extreme Enduro events in the world. The South African, who is still just twenty-two years old, has previously won the Hells Gate Enduro in Italy and has won the tough multi-day Roof of Africa in his home country two times. Young finished second to Cody Webb at the 2016 TKO and will be gunning for the top step this time around.
Spain’s Mario Roman made the podium at the 2017 TKO and like Young, he learned a lot about the terrain and format that should help in 2018.
Roman transitioned from traditional Enduro to Extreme Enduro racing a few years ago and already has a few major wins to his credit including Ales’Trem and Hells Gate. The Spanish rider made a last-minute decision to compete at the TKO last year and joined Cody Webb and Graham Jarvis on the podium with a third-place finish. He too will be back looking to apply what he learned last year to earn the win.
Look for more top riders to be confirmed in the coming weeks.
The 2017 Kenda Tennessee Knockout podium included American Cody Webb, the UK’s Graham Jarvis and Spain’s Mario Roman. Who will take the podium in 2018?
The eighth annual KENDA AMA Tennessee Knockout, presented by Moose Racing and SRT will take place on August 18 – 19, 2018 at the Trials Training Center. The TKO has attracted some of the top off-road racers from around the world making it one of the premier off-road motorcycle races in the US. American Cody Webb has dominated the race despite tough competition from the likes of Graham Jarvis, Mario Ramon, Wade Young and Jonny Walker in recent years.
Webb will be back on his FMF KTM Factory Racing machine ready to take on all challengers again in 2018. We are not sure yet which of top international riders will be back to try to knock off Webb but they have all been extended an invitation along with the top US off-road racers. They will again be gunning for a $10,000 purse.
The KENDA AMA Tennessee Knockout uses a unique four-round Knockout race format that is challenging for the riders and entertaining for the fans. The amazing Trials Training Center, in Sequatchie, Tennessee, allows for easy access to the race action.
The top five finishers at the previous TKO events have included riders from EnduroCross, World Extreme Enduro, Trials, National Enduro, GNCC, WORCS and even the Enduro World Championship. So, it is a great mix of backgrounds facing off on an extremely challenging course with a large purse on the line.
Pre-qualified riders get a free entry into the Sunday program. These riders earn an invite based top results in several major US or International off-road motorcycle race events. Top-25 finishers from the prior year also earn a spot on the Sunday invite list. On Saturday, those riders that did not already earn an invite can challenge themselves on the course with the top finishers earning their own invite to the Sunday Knockout rounds. And new for 2018, Saturday will serve as the AMA Amateur Grand Championship for Extreme Enduro.
The following riders have earned invites directly into the Sunday competition for the 2018 KENDA AMA Tennessee Knockout:
Cody Webb earned his fifth straight Kenda Tennessee Knockout win despite heavy presure from Graham Jarvis. Photo: Adam Booth
The seventh annual Kenda Tennessee Knockout was the best one yet. American Cody Webb took his fifth straight TKO win despite heavy pressure from the UK’s Graham Jarvis and Spain’s Mario Roman.
2017 Kenda Tennessee Knockout Video Highlights, presented by Moose Racing and SRT Offroad:
2017 Kenda Tennessee, Knockout Main Event Results:
Cody Webb (center), Graham Jarvis (left) and Mario Roman shared the 2017 Kenda Tennessee Knockout podium. Photo: Adam Booth
FMF KTM Factory Racing-backed Cody Webb (@codywebb2) withstood a heavy international assault from the UK’s Graham Jarvis (@gforcejarvis) and Spain’s Mario Roman (@marioroman74) to take his fifth straight Kenda AMA Tennessee Knockout win. The American was once again unstoppable on the tough terrain at the Trials Training Center, winning all four rounds despite intense pressure from Rockstar Husqvarna’s Jarvis.
The multi-round Tennessee Knockout started with 250 Amateur entries competing on Saturday in a two-race format that allowed the top thirty riders to move forward to compete in the four round Sunday competition that included twenty nine pre-qualified pro riders from around the world. Jarrett Mohn topped the Amateur competition to earn the AMA Amateur Extreme Enduro Grand National Championship and move forward to Sunday.
The Sunday morning program started with a Hot Lap on a mile long “short course” and Webb started the day off with a 3:53 lap to earn the first starting position for the next Knockout round. Sherco’s Ramon proved a quick learner to set the second fastest time at 4:15. SRT Offroad backed Kyle Redmond was third fastest at 4:17. Jarvis was fourth at 4:18 and SRT backed Cory Graffunder fifth at 4:39.
The second round sent the riders out on a fourteen-mile loop in thirty second intervals and Webb was again fastest with a 1:10:28 lap. Roman continued to impress with the second fastest time at 1:14:30 and Beta USA’s Jordan Ashburn (@jashburn7), who is a Tennessee native, was third with a 1:16:16. Jarvis (1:16:25) and Graffunder (1:21:52) rounded out the top five. Fifty-six riders started this round and only the fastest 25 riders moved on to the next Knockout.
Round three, switched from the riders hitting the track by themselves to a multi-rider head-to-head format. The fastest twenty five riders were split into five groups of five but before that, one last rider was added to the mix in a one-on-one elimination straight line dual between the 26th to 29th place riders. Chuck Dulullo earned that final spot to join group five. Webb, Roman, Ashburn, Jarvis, and Graffunder won their respective groups to earn front row starting positions. The second and third place finishers in each group also moved on to the fifteen rider main event.
The main event moved back to the short course and would be a 30-minute plus one lap battle. Webb quickly moved into the lead followed closely by Jarvis and Roman and those three opened a large gap on the first lap. Roman then got stuck in the notoriously tough water fall that had stopped many of the other riders on lap one.
Jarvis kept the pressure on Webb and even managed to take the lead for a second or two a few times only to quickly lose it back. This went on for six laps in what turned out to be an eight lap race. Then Webb managed to open a small gap and squeeze by a few stuck riders while Jarvis took a more cautious wait and see approach that ultimately allowed Webb to extend the gap. Webb took the win after nearly forty minutes of racing while Jarvis finished a little over two minutes back. Webb lapped Roman on the last lap but the Spaniard managed to hold on for third position.
FMF KTM’s Cody Webb managed to defend his home soil by taking a tough win over Jarvis at the 2017 Kenda Tennessee Knockout. Photo: Adam Booth
“The day was fantastic, after Erzberg, I felt like I let everybody in the States down by having some arm-pump issues so it was great to get the win,” Webb said. “After training a lot on the EnduroCross course, that paid off because I am used to the high intensity and Graham and Mario are more used to longer events but it feels good to take the win and this one was the toughest yet since Graham pushed me really hard.”
Rockstar Husqvarna’s Graham Jarvis proved again that he is tough to beat. Photo: Adam Booth
“The Knockout stages are pretty straight forward but that last race was probably the most intense race I have ever done but it was fantastic,” said Jarvis. “I gave it everything I had and it was not enough to keep up with Cody for the whole race so congrats to him.”
Spain’s Mario Roman was impressive at his first ever Tennessee Knockout, ultimately taking the final podium spot. Photo: Adam Booth
Beta’s Max Gerston (@maxgerston) had a pretty quiet day but managed to pass his teammate Ashburn on the last lap to take fourth. Ashburn was right in the battle for third with Roman for most of the race but a few mistakes in the closing laps cost him two spots and he ultimately finished fifth.
Graffunder, Ben Kelly, Mitch Carvolth, Quinn Wentzel and Grayson Gonsalves rounded out the top ten. Gonsalves had made the long trip from Hawaii to compete in the Amateur day and advanced into Sunday so his top ten was an impressive result. Fellow Hawaiian’s Kealoha Estrella (11th) and Chris Satterfield (15th) also made the main event proving that the Aloha state residents know how to ride the tough stuff.
Beta’s Morgan Tanke (@mtanke31) took the Saturday Women’s class win over Victoria Harcy. They were the only two female riders that finished the morning lap and faced off in a main event on a special short course.
2017 Kenda Tennessee, Knockout Main Event Results
Cody Webb, KTM
Graham Jarvis, Husqvarna
Mario Roman, Sherco
Max Gerston, Beta
Jordan Ashburn, Beta
Cory Graffunder, Husqvarna
Ben Kelly, KTM
Mitch Carvolth, KTM
Quinn Wentzel, Husqvarna
Grayson Goncalves, Husqvarna
Kealoha Estrella, KTM
Josh Rooken-Smith, KTM
Noah Kepple, GasGas
George Kowalski, KTM
Chris Satterfield, Husqvarna
Keep an eye on this blog for a video recap within a few days.
Cody Webb (center), Wade Young (left) and Kyle Redmond enjoyed the podium in 2016. Who will earn the top spots for 2017? Photo: Future 7 Media
A large list of riders from around the globe have confirmed that they will participate in the 2017 Kenda Tennessee Knockout this weekend at the Trials Training Center in Sequatchie, Tennessee. American Cody Webb is the favorite but he will have to fend off the UK’s Graham Jarvis, the most successful Extreme Enduro racer in the world, who won the Red Bull Romaniacs for the sixth time. Spain’s Mario Roman finished second at the Red Bull Romaniacs and he too will likely be a threat to Webb’s TKO dominance.
Two of the top Japanese riders are also participating in the TKO, Hiroshi Takahashi and Taku Izumi have made the long trip from Japan to compete with the goal of qualifying for the fifteen-rider main event. And you can add Canada’s Cory Graffunder to the list of international riders that will likely challenge for the podium.
California’s Kyle Redmond finished on the TKO podium in 2016 so he should be a threat again on his SRT Offroad Husqvarna. Arizona’s Max Gerston will be a threat as well on his factory Beta. And if you are looking for the young surprises, Ben Kelly was a relatively unknown rider that raced the Saturday qualifiers last year and made it all the way to the pro main event and finished fourth. And GasGas backed Noah Kepple was a front runner last year before an obstacle took him out of a top finish. And all the way from Hawaii, Casey and Chris Satterfield will be looking to build on top 25 finishes last year. And the local Tennessee fans can cheer on Jordan Ashburn on another factory backed Beta.
Unfortunately, South Africa’s Wade Young had to withdraw from the TKO due to injury as did Rockstar Husqvarna’s Colton Haaker. But Haaker’s #10 bike will be ridden by Dirt Rider Magazine Associate Editor Andrew Oldar, who is a former top Trials competitor that knows the Trials Training Center terrain well.
Below are the riders confirmed for the Sunday program. They will be joined by the top 30 from the 250 riders competing on Saturday.
Cody Webb
Graham Jarvis
Kyle Redmond
Cory Graffunder
Max Gerston
Noah Kepple
Ben Kelly
Mario Roman
Quinn Wentzel
Mitch Carvolth
Nick Klapec
Wally Palmer
Nick Fahringer
Jordan Ashburn
Casey Satterfield
Chris Satterfield
Joan Pau Segura
Hiroshi Takahashi
Taku Izumi
JoJo Bowden
Drew Fortner
Andrew Oldar
Jobel Coronado
Hunter Neurwirth
Ronnie Commo
JoJo Toole
Josh Rooken-Smith
Chance Baker
Mark Heresco
