Juan Knight retires Report by John Shirt

Juan Knight, our leading Enduro Team Rider has decided to retire from British Championship Enduro Competition. This decision was made by Juan after returning from the I.S.D.E. in Poland. The six day was the final nail in the coffin for Juan as a number of events during that trip finally made his mind up to quit. Juan was actually one of the first riders to stop to try and assist the already killed German rider on the third day of the event. Juan was having a very good day until that and I can imagine what was going through his head when he had to leave a dead man on the course to continue his own event. With a wife and two children back at the parc ferme he was ready to quit there and then. Juan continued with the event and was glad to finish day 5 with only the final Motocross to do on the final day. You may have read in the press that some riders refused to ride the final MX race because of the dust. This frustrated an already tired and emotionally scarred Juan and so he went to the line to try and race to get the job done to get the hell out of Poland and back home ! He was then dragged off his bike and basically beaten up !! Some of the Teams had a lot to lose if the final MX race was run and tried to convince and stop any rider that wanted to complete the race. The attached picture shows Spaniard MARC PUIGEMONT putting a stake through Juans rear wheel to try and stop him ! Juan now has a family with two fantastic kids and together with running his own business which is doing very well, the added pressure of travelling to England to compete at the highest level is not possible anymore and he has realised that you can't do everything.

Juan was the 2002 OVERALL BRITISH ENDURO CHAMPION and the 2003 250 2-stroke BRITISH ENDURO CHAMPION. He also won last years WESTON BEACH RACE! (which iIm still trying to convince him to ride this year!!)

Juan will continue to ride both Trials and Enduro on GAS GAS but he will only ride when he wants and just for fun which is really what it's all about anyway !? Juan, Kirsty, Thomas and Gracie will all be missed from the Enduro scene and I personally wish him all the very best and i also want to take this opportunity to thank Juan for his help with the promotion of GAS GAS during the past 3 years.