Tennessee Knockout gets green light but drops from WESS calendar

The Tennessee Knockout Extreme Enduro will go ahead as planned on August 14-16, the sad news is it will no longer be part of the WESS Enduro World Championship in 2020 but it will return to the series in 2021…

The WESS Enduro World Championship, together with the TKO organisers, have today announced the withdrawal of North America’s premier Extreme Enduro from the 2020 WESS Enduro World Championship calendar due to ongoing COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Today’s WESS press release says, with the world slowly beginning to rebuild following the coronavirus pandemic, “the current restrictions surrounding international travel to North America make it unviable for competitors and teams from outside of North America to adequately plan for the race.”

The news naturally comes as a shame for TKO organisers and race fans who were eagerly anticipating the WESS debut in the United States. Eric Peronnard, Kenda AMA Tennessee Knockout Extreme Enduro Co-Organiser says, “We were really excited to have the Kenda AMA Tennessee Knockout Extreme Enduro as part of this year’s WESS Enduro World Championship, but we completely understand why the series is no longer able to include TKO in its 2020 schedule. 

“This year has been extremely difficult for everyone, to say the least. With many parts of the world lifting lock downs and restrictions at different speeds, it’s impractical at this stage to expect overseas competitors and teams to attend due to difficulties and uncertainties they face.”

All systems go for TKO 2020

TKO preparations continue however after the event got the green light to go racing on August 14-16 in accordance with the AMA’s Safe To Race Toolkit – as already employed at GNCC, Supercross and this coming weekend at the Cherokee National Enduro. “We are excited to have a green light to go racing this August 14-16 and look forward to finally being a part of WESS in 2021.” Peronnard adds.

Speaking about the decision, WESS Enduro World Championship Series Manager Winfried Kerschhaggl says, “Of course it is disappointing that we are withdrawing the Kenda AMA Tennessee Knock Out Extreme Enduro from the 2020 calendar, but we firmly believe it is the right thing to do. 

“As we all begin to rebuild life as COVID-19 restrictions ease, as a championship we still face many uncertainties surrounding international travel, and especially trans-Atlantic travel. TKO is fixed for 2021, this is simply a one-year postponement. The WESS Enduro World Championship will visit Tennessee next year. We know how much the US riders have been looking forward to participating in the series for the very first time at TKO, but at this time it is not practical to do so. We will watch on intently and wish Eric and his team all the best with this year’s race.”

The current, very provisional WESS calendar as of June 3, 2020

• Round 1: Red Bull Romaniacs (Romania) July 21-25
• Round 2: Hawkstone Park Cross-Country (UK) September 26-27
• Round 3: Extreme XL Lagares (Portugal) October 2-4
• Round 4: Hixpania Hard Enduro (Spain) October 9-11

This calendar is likely to change as Romaniacs confirm their race dates on June 15. Potentially we will see some juggling of events and running order.

More TKO information: TennesseeKnockoutEnduro.com 

More WESS information: iRideWESS.com 

Photo Credit: Mary Rinnell