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.