The Kenda Tennessee Knockout has become the premier Extreme Enduro in the US and Kenda has been the title sponsor since the first event in 2011. The ninth annual TKO will take over the Trials Training Center on the weekend of August 16-18. It has expanded to a three-day event with a Friday Prologue allowing the amateur riders to earn their starting positions for the Saturday racing. Saturday serves as the AMA Grand Championship for Extreme Enduro and Sunday is the pro day, which attracts many of the top riders from around the world to compete with America’s best.
“We extended our agreement with the Tennessee Knockout for three years starting with 2018 because we are thrilled with the growth of this event,” stated Jason Baldwin, Director of Powersports for American Kenda. “We are really proud of the fact that Kenda is the most popular brand of tires used at the event as that proves the performance of our tires”.
After the Friday afternoon Prologue, the top amateur riders will compete in two rounds of racing on Saturday. The top 30 riders from Saturday will also earn the opportunity to compete on Sunday with the pre-qualified pro riders. The pre-qualified Sunday riders earn an invite based on top results in several major US or International off-road motorcycle series and events. Top-25 pro finishers from the prior year’s TKO also earn a spot on the Sunday invite list.
The Sunday racing uses a unique four round Knockout race format that is challenging for the riders and entertaining for the fans. The course layout provides a lot of great spectator locations with some unbelievably challenging terrain for all four Knockout rounds. Mark your calendar for the weekend of August 16-18 to see the worlds best racers face off against the track and each other.
There is also a Women’s class with a separate main event that will run on Saturday afternoon. This is an AMA Grand Championship class and women riders can still enter.
Kenda has been the title sponsor of the Tennessee Knockout since the first event in 2011. The ninth annual TKO will take place on August 16-18, 2019. Photo: Darrin Chapman