Nathan Watson wins the Red Bull Knock Out!
This weekend, according to sponsor Red Bull, the toughest beach cross in the world was held with the Red Bull Knock Out in Scheveningen. For the first time, this race also belonged to the regularity criterion of the WESS (World Enduro Super Series). That created an interesting composition of pilots. We had extremely strong enduro pilots such as Billy William Bolt, Manuel Lettenbichler, Alfredo Gomez and Nathan Watson, combined with local heroes and real beach cross specialists such as Steve Ramon, Yentel Martens, Daymond Martens, Todd Kellet, Axel van de Sande, Jeffrey Dewulf and as extra MXGP pilot and MXON star Glenn Coldenhoff.
It was the latter who took the lead at the start of the match. Glenn Coldenhoff set a blistering pace and completed the laps on the Scheveningen beach at MXGP speed. The Dutchman seemed confident that he would be able to maintain this speed for not thirty minutes, but also two hours, unlike in the Grand Prix races. His pursuers soon saw their deficit increase to more than a minute. Including Yentel Martens and Nathan Watson.
But then things went wrong for Glenn Coldenhoff. In the joker lane, which included a whoop section of tree trunks, a cross made of tree trunks and then a kind of step up with lots of beach sand and tree trunks. Unfortunately, the Dutchman got stuck in that section, in a tangle of amateurs who had gotten themselves stuck in the obstacles that I don't think should or should be on a beach cross. The lead that the crowd favorite had built up with his debilitating pace was gone in a hiccup. Very sad for the home crowd who hoped for a Dutch victory, and then saw this section taken off the course because it was too difficult.
Of course, done is never forgotten, this incident provided an opportunity that Nathan Watson did not miss. The Briton, with extensive motocross experience as a former MXGP pilot for Factory Husqvarna and now competing in the WESS and French Beach Cross Championships as a Factory KTM pilot, took the lead in the race and continued the unhinged and out of rhythm Glenn Coldenhoff lap. lap at a big disadvantage. The Brit ultimately dominated the last part of the match to win with a lead of more than 1.30 minutes over Glenn Coldenhoff. In third place, none other than Yentel Martens was allowed to join the podium, he was ultimately the only one to finish on the same lap as Nathan Watson, just under 6 minutes behind the winner. On one lap, Camile Chapeliere and Todd Kellet completed the top five.
Before the WESS championship, Nathan Watson had already been eliminated for the title. This fight was between Billy Bolt, Manuel Lettenbichler and Josep Garcia. In a race like this where anything can happen, where falls don't even have to be your fault, anything could happen. Yet it was the young Billy Bolt who managed to win the title.
WESS Red Bull Knock Out – First 50 participants
2. Glenn Coldenhoff
3. Yentel Martens
4. Camile Chapeliere
5. Todd Kellett
6. Jamie McCanney
7. Lars van Berkel
8. Axel van de Sande
9. Jeffrey DeWulf
10. Sven van der Mierden
11. Marshall Meplon
12. William Bolt
13. Greg Smets
14. Romain Dumontier
15. Lettenbichler manual
16. Joseph Garcia Montana
17. Ronnie van Rooij
18.Paul Bolton
19.Bradley Cox
20. Rico Lommers
21. Worthy Christian
22. Jacob de Booij
23. Rinus van de Ven
24. Tom Meijer
25. Hans Vogels
27. John Cup
28. Alfredo Gomez
29. Ralph Butcher
30. Stuwey Reijnders
31. Amel Lawyer
32. Joël van Mechelen
33. Raf Belmans
34. Jaap Corneth
35. Rannar Uusna
36. Richard Nugteren
37. Menno Aussems
38. Damian Wedage
39. Jim Kanters
40. Dylan van Veghel
41. Loeka Thonies
42.John Robson
43. Robin Holtmeulen
44. Jordy Kouvelt
45. Guido Boone
46. Marcel Conijn
47. Dani Hoitink
48. Edward Briscoe
49. Brad Thornhill
50. Brian List
You can get full results find here.
Text: Matthias Van Eeckhoven – Photo: Red Bull Content Pool (Bavo Swijgers)
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