U.S. Versus The World At TKO
F
or the first time ever, all the
top hard enduro riders from
around the world will compete
against the best North American
riders on U.S. soil. The Trials
Training Center in Sequatchie
Tennessee will host round five
of the FIM Hard Enduro World
Championship (HEWC) this
weekend, August 13-15. The Red
Bull Tennessee Knockout (TKO),
now in its 11th year, has become
one of the premier off-road
motorcycle races in the U.S. and
serves as the AMA Grand Cham-
pionship for Extreme Off-Road
racing and many of the top inter-
national riders have competed in
the TKO in the past, but this will
be the first time that they will all
be competing at the same time
and competing for world champi-
onship points.
The TKO has used the same
format since the first event in
2011, which pre-qualifies the top
riders to a four-round knockout
format on Sunday. Saturday will
have over 400 riders competing
in two rounds of racing with the
second race serving as the AMA
Amateur Grand Championship
for Extreme Off-Road. The top
30 riders from Saturday earn the
opportunity to compete with the
best rider on Sunday.
"Unlike some extreme or
hard enduro events that run for
several hours, we chose to use a
multi-round format for the TKO to
keep the racing tight," said Eric
Peronnard, co-producer of the
TKO. "The pro riders compete
four times on Sunday and race
for over three hours, but the final
results all come down to a final
multi-lap race with the top 15
riders on a challenging course,
so it is very intense racing for the
riders and exciting for the fans.
"We have to thank Winfried
Kerschhaggl, the FIM and AMA
for all of their effort to make it
possible to make the Red Bull
Tennessee Knockout part of the
FIM Hard Enduro World Cham-
pionship in very difficult times for
international travel."
Scheduled to compete are
Germany's Manuel "Mani"
Lettenbichler, Canada's Trystan
Hart, Great Britain's Billy Bolt,
Poland's Taddy Blazusiak, South
Africa's Wade Young, Great
Britain's Jonny Walker, Spain's
Mario Roman, Austria's Michael
Walkner, and America's Cody
Webb, Pat Smage, Max Gerston,
Keith Curtis, Ryan Sipes, Jordan
Ashburn, Cooper Abbott and
Nick Fahringer, to name a few.
New for 2021, Saturday af-
ternoon will include a Prologue
Straight Rhythm event for the pro
men and pro women riders. The
selected riders will compete in
quick out and back head-to-head
races in a best two-out-of-three
bracket format to earn some
extra purse money and deter-
mine the Sunday morning hot lap
starting positions.
The 2021 TKO will again be fea-
tured on Red Bull TV with more
details to be announced.
CN
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 10, 2021 P25
This weekend's
Tennessee
Knockout will see
some of the world's
best extreme off-
roaders take on the
top riders from the
U.S. on home soil.
