Jake Nicholls was buoyed to complete the 2011 MX2 FIM Motocross World Championship in eleventh position, representing an improvement of two places over his 2010 ranking and achieved despite missing the first four rounds of the series with a broken ankle. The HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK rider battled incredibly hot and tricky conditions across the hardpack hillside of Fermo for the Grand Prix of Italy – the last race of fifteen – to grab ninth overall.
Jake Nicholls, KTM UK
The 21 year old started well in the first moto and was set for a sixth place finish until Nico Aubin crept up and relegated the 250SX-F rider in the final stages. In the following 35 minute and 2 lap outing, run in front of a decent crowd packed around the steep slopes, Nicholls recovered from an early race slip and saw-out the closing sprint of the season with eleventh spot.
Team-mate in the MX2 division, Jordan Booker, drew the curtain on his rookie Grand Prix campaign by taking a point with twentieth in the second moto. The teenager had been plagued by mechanical gremlins in the preceding sessions and failed to make the finish in the first race. A similar situation befell Tom Church as the GP veteran signed off his career in Italy. A crash and damaged bike pushed him to the role of bystander in the opening MX1 affair. Determined to bank some points in the last international outing of 2011, ‘TC’ guided the 350 SX-F to fifteenth place.
In other news Nathan Watson today claimed the BYMX School Boy championship at Milton Park to add to the further spoils enjoyed by theteam in their national youth programme such as Ben Watson taking the Red Bull Pro National 85cc crown.
HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK now fulfil the rest of their racing commitments for 2011 closer to home with the last round of the Red Bull Pro Nationals and the Maxxis British Championship finale at Hawkstone Park with the British Supercross series still to come.
For more information visit the team’s website at: www.ktmukmx.com Photo courtesy of Ray Archer
Jake Nicholls:
“A pretty good day really. We had a bit of trouble with the bike on Saturday just because of the heat but eventually I got a reallygood rhythm going. In the first race I was stuck behind Roelants who was struggling a bit and I just got sucked into the rhythm he was doing. It wasn’t a bad race but I knew I could do a lot better. In the second one I had a pretty average start and nearly went down in the corner. I was tenth entering the fourth lap when I hit a turn in neutral and lost the front. The heat got me and I lost my rhythm. It was an uphill battle from there.
I’m really happy with eleventh in the championship, which is two positions better than last year and after missing four rounds. I hit the ground running when I came back and that was all to do with the hard work I did when I was injured. I was able to pick up at the speed and form I left off from last year and that’s what I aim to do for next season after a good winter of training ahead.”
ProX Racing Parts 