Nicholls frustrated in pursuit of World Championship positions

Jake Nicholls was denied the chance to move up to eleventh in the FIM Motocross World Championship MX2 standings despite missing the first four rounds of the fourteen held so far this season when he was forced to pull out of the second race at a difficult Gaildorf circuit (Germany) for the Grand Prix of Europe.

The penultimate meeting of the series was run in muggy conditions and in front of a 22,000 crowd at the venue that has a long motocross history and last entertained a GP in 2005.

The HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK representative recovered from a bad start to gun the potent 250SX-F to a solid ninth position in thefirst moto across the compact layout and rutty and hard-pack terrain that was tricky for overtaking. It was an impressive performance and pushed the 21 year old up past Christophe Charlier in the points table. Sadly the promotion would be short-lived after an accident when Nicholls' left elbow was struck by the flipping rear wheel of another rider would give the Englishman a dead arm and cause his retirement (only the second from twenty motos) during the early phases of the second race.

Nicholls would end the Grand Prix with fourteenth position overall and now stares at a seven point gap again to Charlier; a realistic target with the final round of the calendar occurring in Italy next week. Team-mate Jordan Booker had a tough time handling the Gaildorf mud and missed the points in both motos; taking 23rd and 22nd.

In only his fourth Grand Prix appearance for the team and on the 350SX-F Tom Church grabbed a point with twentieth place in the first MX1 moto. It was the least the veteran could expect after recovering from a poor start and winning nine positions in a moto-long trek. Church was set for his best finish of the season with 15th in the second race until a freak occurrence with his fuel cap becoming dislodged covered the rider in fuel and affected his motorcycle, causing him to lose places in the final two laps.

HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK will head down the eastern coast of Italy in the coming days and arrive at the hilltop venue of Fermo for the fifteenth and final round of the FIM Motocross World Championship. The Grand Prix of Italy will bring the series to a close for the second year in a row.

Jake Nicholls:
“The weekend started off fairly average but I slowly built up confidence with the bike and the track throughout Saturday. The qualification heat was ruined by a collision on the first jump after the start but I picked myself up and charged through to 15th even though the bike was pretty out of shape. In the first race I had a perfect jump off the start but just got out-powered down the straight. From mid-pack I worked my way to ninth. For the second race, I had another dodgy start and then on the second lap a rider crashed next to me and his bike flipped upside down and his back wheel hit my elbow. I've got metal work in the joint and straight away I lost feeling in my hand; I was scared from this point because I hadn't hurt my elbow like this since I broke it, but thankfully it was only the nerves that had gone into shock. Now I just have some bruising around the elbow. I'm very disappointed with the weekend. I feel that I could have achieved a lot more at this track.”

Tom Church:
“It was OK today. I rode terribly for the first five minutes of the first race. I got hit all over the place and the track was really awkward. Once I settled down then I pulled back from 29th to 20th and knew what I had to do for the second. I got the start I needed and got into the top fifteen and pushed hard. With two laps to go I was set for fifteenth but the fuel cap popped off. I put it back on but I think the bike was running out of fuel because it kept bogging and I didn't want to jump the step-ups. I was out of the points by that stage. It was a shame because I had an easy fifteenth.”

Roger Magee, Team Principal:
“It was a weekend of mixed fortunes. It started on the Saturday with Jake almost having a big crash that put him last but he recovered to sixteenth, which still wasn't a great gate pick for the motos. He battled well in the first one to come through to ninth but unfortunately he had an incident in the second race where someone's rear wheel smashed his elbow. It is unlucky because he had moved up to eleventh in the championship after the first race but is now back to twelfth. He missed the first third of the season because of injury but otherwise has been strong. Jordan Booker was in and out of the points and this was his first time at Gaildorf so he'll learn from it. It was a similar situation for Tom Church in MX1. He took one point in the first race and was set for a good finish in the second until we had a small technical problem with the fuel cap. He just slipped out of the points on the last lap and I felt sorry for him because he has put so much in since he has joined the team. He is a good enough professional to move on and we'll look ahead to Fermo next week.”

  previous
MX2 Moto1
1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 40:44.246; 2. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:08.406; 3. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:13.049; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:23.816; 5. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:42.918; 6. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), +1:00.372; 7. Michael Leib (USA, Husqvarna), +1:18.185; 8. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +1:19.485; 9. Jake Nicholls (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), +1:21.598; 10. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), +1:24.541; 23. Jordan Booker (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), -2 lap(s);

MX2 Moto2
1. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 39:50.968;  2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:06.609; 3. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM),+0:11.837; 4. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:14.615; 5. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:21.711; 6. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:42.374; 7. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:47.970; 8. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Husqvarna), +1:16.055; 9.Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), +1:26.252; 10. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +1:29.542; 22. Jordan Booker (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), -1 lap(s);

MX2 Overall result
1. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 47 points; 2. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 45 p.; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 38 p.; 4. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), 38 p.; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), 33 p.;
6. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), 27 p.; 7. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 27 p.; 8. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), 27 p.; 9. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Husqvarna), 23 p.; 10. Antonio Jose Butron Oliva (ESP, KTM), 19 p.; 14. Jake Nicholls (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), 12 p.; 26. Jordan Booker (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), 0 p.;

MX2 World Championship standings after 14 of 15 rounds
1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 635 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 585 p.; 3. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 526 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), 458 p.; 5. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), 391 p.; 6. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), 369 p.; 7. Zachary Osborne (USA, Yamaha), 295 p.; 8. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), 287 p.; 9. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), 269 p.; 10. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 253 p.; 11.Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), 212 p.; 12. Jake Nicholls (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), 205 p.;

MX1 Moto1
1. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 40:06.778; 2. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:00.354; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:09.171; 4. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +0:12.185; 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:16.518; 6. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), +0:33.809; 7. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Kawasaki), +0:40.387; 8. Gregory Aranda (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:41.969; 9. Tanel Leok (EST, TM), +0:45.443; 10. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, Yamaha), +0:47.522; 20. Tom Church (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), -1 lap(s);

MX1 Moto2
1. Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 39:34.517; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:43.529; 3. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, Yamaha), +0:46.324; 4. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), +0:52.126; 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:55.870; 6. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:57.195; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Honda), +1:05.920; 8. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +1:09.531; 9. Gregory Aranda (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:10.368; 10. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), +1:20.780;

MX1 Overall result
1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 42 points; 2. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), 38 p.; 3. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 37 p.; 4. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), 33 p.; 5. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 32 p.; 6. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, Yamaha), 31 p.; 7. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 29 p.; 8. Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 25 p.; 9. Gregory Aranda (FRA, Kawasaki), 25 p.; 10. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Honda), 24 p.; 25. Tom Church (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), 1 p.;

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