Full report in UKXC Issue 7
Red Bull KTM rider David Knight rightfully reclaimed his Tough One crown last weekend with a stunning victory at Nantmawr Quarry, against the biggest field of international riders ever seen at the event.

The hype surrounding the 2010 TM Tough One stepped up a gear just days before the event with the withdrawal of  KTM Factory rider Taddy Blazusiak. The battle between Knight and Blazusiak was eagerly awaited by spectators but was not to be as Taddy had a bout of flu.

A six week delay due to bad weather saw the event moved to mid February and, typically, the weather the day before the event was horrendous.

The floor of Nantmawr Quarry was covered in an inch of ice on Friday morning but weak sunshine soon cleared the area. Event day Saturday saw a few flakes of snow blowing in the wind but luckily the sun won through once again and conditions were perfect for the sixth running of the Tough One.
A few changes had been planned to previous years. Pro riders had to qualify for the front row of the start line by competing in the Kriega Hot Laps. Transponder timed, the event within an event proved to be very popular amongst the pros. The Kriega course included a very steep downhill with tight left hand turn at the base, on loose shale, in addition to the trailer section, tyres and logs, a skip and the natural tough terrain itself. Riders blasted off from the quarry floor, around the top edge before re-entering the arena. All very spectacular, when combined with running commentary from Roger Harvey and Nik Fisk.

Just to add to the tough test the pro riders were to face, the Expert riders began their Tough One race nearly half a lap ahead on the open fields surrounding the quarry while the Pros started at the quarry floor, so not only did they have to battle the course itself but also try and work their way through the Expert riders.

Fast Eddy grabbed the hole-shot beneath the startline arch on his Putoline Suzuki 250 but Knighter soon powered to the front and quickly made his way through most of the Expert riders, re-entering the quarry at the base of the Root of All Evil climb with only a couple of Experts ahead of him.

Dougie Lampkin had powered his Factory Beta into second spot but was overtaken by Tom Sagar on the Putoline Suzuki RMZ250 and Graham Jarvis on the MRS Sherco 250.
Sagar continued to tail Knight but crashed a couple of times allowing Jarvis and Lampkin to close and pass him but Sagar’s better speed on the field section of the course soon reeled in the two trials stars. Jarvis suffered a few technical difficulties, drowning the Sherco in the big pool at the base of a climb and taking some time to get it restarted before his clutch finally gave out after nine laps.

Lampkin immediately pounced and grabbed third spot behind Knight and Sagar, keeping clear of New Zealander Rory Mead aboard his 250 Yamaha. Eurotek KTM rider Paul Bolton did well to maintain fifth spot, all the riders ahead of him ride full time, so he was in good company for a part timer.

Ben Hemingway had the race of his life with a well-deserved sixth spot. Hemingway had another of the Knight clan on his tail, Juan on a Gas Gas 250 and Rich Ellwood who was just managing to keep ahead of the leading German rider.

Behind the Brits was a string of Factory sponsored riders. Germany’s Andreas Lettenbichler on a Factory BMW 450X fought hard for just outside the top ten with team mate Simo Kirrsi from Finland a couple of places ahead and Rudi Poschl a couple behind.
Riaan Van Niekirk flew the flag for KTM South Africa with team-mates Darryl Curtis and Chris Birch maintaining their positions just a few places behind.

Gary Daniels took a convincing win by a clear lap in the Expert class just beating the two hour mark to get an extra lap in by two minutes ahead of Martin Jenkins in second spot. Stphen Dixon proved the reliability of his Scorpa T ride, the only one in the whole event, by taking third place seven minutes behind Jenkins.

Pascal Berlingieri from Belgium was very happy to ride hard for fourth in a challenging field of Expert riders as Gavin Johnson followed him home in fifth.

The day belonged to Knighter, back on KTM machinery at an event he has made his own, finishing in style and lapping the whole field, except for second placed Sagar, to win by a clear 10 minutes.

In some ways this Tough One wasn’t as tough as previous events but it was definitely all about racing and allowing riders the chance to show their stuff rather than setting impossible obstacles that only a small minority of riders could attempt.

As an event it remains the UK’s number one Extreme challenge bar none.
Full report and huge picture special in UKXC Issue 7