Second place result for Walker at BEEC Rnd 1
For the second time in as many events KTM’s Jonny Walker has secured a solid runner-up result, this time at the opening round of the British Extreme Enduro Championship held at Tong Hall, near Bradford. Turning 22 on the day of the event, Jonny battled his way through the tough two-hour race to place behind David Knight with Danny McCanney rounding out the podium positions.
Matching the result he secured at The Tough One just two weeks earlier, Jonny’s hopes of a winning performance at Tong Hall were ended after four laps. With race leader David Knight in sight until that point, a mistake on one of the technical uphill sections of the course saw Jonny stuck under his bike, which cost him valuable time. Holding his runner-up position from start to finish, despite his fall, Jonny pushed hard during the second hour of the race but was unable to close in on Knight: “Everything went well really at Tong. I felt like I rode well and during the opening laps I felt really good. I was second off the start behind David and held that position for the first four laps. Then I made a mistake, which cost me a lot of time. David got up one of the climbs and I looped out, which wasn’t great. I was stuck under my bike in a gully and had to wait for some spectators to pull my bike off me. I lost quite a bit of time and lost sight of David at that point. The track was tough – loads of tree roots and ruts everywhere, but I enjoyed it. I felt like I was going well again during the closing laps, but there was no way of catching David. He always rides well at Tong and definitely showed that, so to be second to him, and to have lapped all other riders, is a result I’m really pleased with.” 
Jonny now heads to Spain in preparation for the second round of the Superenduro World Championship in Barcelona on Sunday, February 10th. Following the opening round of the Superenduro championship in Poland Jonny sits second in the series standings, just six points behind leader Taddy Blazusiak. (source: future7media)