6th March 2011 – Little Silver, Devon | 2011 Maxxis British Championships
PODIUM FOR NICHOLLS AND STRONG PERFORMANCE FROM IRWIN AT SEASON OPENER 7th March 2011
HM Plant Red Bull KTM’s Jake Nicholls scored a superb podium finish at yesterday’s British Motocross Championship round one at Little Silver, Exeter in the MX2 class after three good performances, while teammate Graeme Irwin earned three top ten finishes in his MX1 debut.
Nicholls made a strong start to the race season going 3-3-5 aboard his KTM SX 250-F to take the final spot of the podium and plenty of points for his assault on the British MX2 Championship. The 20-year-old qualified third, but lost a position in the superpole session around the hardpack Exeter track, putting him in fourth on the gate. Jordan Booker made it to his first ever superpole session and qualified strongly in 11th place for his HM Plant Red Bull KTM team debut.
In race one Nicholls got a fairly good start behind Zach Osborne but ended up riding a fairly lonely race throughout. In the final stages of the 20-minute plus two-lap moto when Arnaud Tonus pursued him in the fight for second position, ending the race in a strong third place. Booker didn’t get the best of starts and collided with another rider on lap one, but fought his way through from the back of the pack to 20th place.
In race two Nicholls got another good start, and settled into a good rhythm in third, where he remained until the chequered flag while resisting challenges from Mattis Karro towards the final stages of the race. Booker also had a good start into 12th, before taking a tumble prior to the end of the first lap, leaving him with a huge amount of work to do to come through to 22nd place.
In the final MX2 race of the day Nicholls didn’t get the best of starts while Booker gated into second and was lying third at the end of the first lap. Nicholls got his head down to fight his way back from 14th to finish in fifth position and starting the season with a well-earned podium finish overall. Booker proved he has the speed by running in the top five until an unfortunate mistake cost him dearly in the second half of the race, crossing the line in 30th place.
Irwin enjoyed a strong debut outing in the MX1 class aboard his HM Plant Red Bull KTM 350 SX-F following illness this week, which had made it look unlikely he would be able to complete all three races. The 19-year-old Ulsterman qualified strongly in the top 10 with ninth in the one flying lap superpole session. In the first moto Irwin, who hasn’t raced since last July due to surgery on his shoulders, didn’t get the best of starts and after gating into eleventh he lost a few positions in the opening stages. Mid-race the KTM pilot got into a good rhythm and began working his way through the pack around the ultra-hard Little Silver track to come through to a very strong finish in sixth place.
In race two Irwin gated into seventh place but rode a consistently throughout to cross the finish line in another strong sixth place. In the final race of the day Irwin was really feeling the effects of his flu illness and despite fighting hard in the first few laps, he was struggling to maintain his pace with how weak he was feeling. The KTM pilot kept going to cross the line in 10th place and earning a very creditable sixth overall with a good amount of championship points.
Jake Nicholls #45: MX2 3rd Overall “After a long winter it was great to be back out on the race track today, and it was nice to be on a dry one. It was a bit of a shock to the system with how quick and hard pack the track was, but I enjoyed it all day. Qualifying went well and I felt pretty quick from the get go. Superpole wasn’t quite as sharp but fourth was still pretty good! In the first race I got a pretty good start and followed Zach past the original leader. I couldn’t keep with Zach and got caught in no mans land a bit, before battling with Tonus near the end which woke me up a bit to be honest. The second race was another good start, but I got held up a bit in the first turn. I rode a bit tight to start with, but held off Karro and finished third, although I wasn’t so happy with how I rode and really struggled with my suspension. In the last race I got a shocking start and was well down the field, as well as having to go off the track while avoiding a downed rider and I lost massive amounts of time. I pushed really hard through the pack battling the sun as well as the riders and got to fifth at the flag. I was a bit upset with my start as I rode a lot better in this race than the other two, but third overall is still a nice way to start the season. I’d like to say a big thanks to my mechanic Wayne who has been working really hard and all our sponsors for making it happen.”
Jordan Booker #114: MX2 28th Overall “Qualifying went really well, in fact it was my first time making it into the Superpole, which was good. I messed up my Superpole lap a little, but still finished 11th and had a fairly good gate on the start. I didn’t get such a good start in the first race and was around mid-pack; then at the single jump in the second turn I collided with someone and went down. I spent most of the race just trying to fight through really. The track was really one line, which made it a bit of a mission. In the second race I got a fairly good start into around 12th, but went down on the first lap with someone and had to work hard to get back from last. In the last race I got a really good start into around second place and was running top five until two minutes to go, and ended up having a little crash but then it took me a while to get going again. So all in all it has not really the best first day, and the results didn’t really reflect how I was riding, but there are some positives to take. The team have been really supportive and it’s a good learning curve, I just need to work on my starts.”
Graeme Irwin #555: MX1 6th Overall “All things considered it was a consistent day; I was taken ill during the week and thought it was going to be clear for the weekend, but riding just made it worse and took everything out of me. It’s the first time I’ve done any proper single flying laps since I was injured, and I was pleased to be in the top 10. In the first race I got a really bad start and made it hard for myself, so I had to work my way up; I was 13th, then got by a few guys, but then hit a bad bump and ran wide so ended up back in 15th. I managed to work my way back up to sixth, which wasn’t too bad and the speed was there, which is the main thing. In the second race I got a better start and just rode my own race, but halfway through started to feel really weak, although I managed to finish sixth. By the third race I felt dead and had nothing to give. I pushed for the first few laps but after that I was struggling and tried to bring it home to get as many points as possible. It’s not too bad for my first race back and riding the KTM 350 SX-F, but I am a bit disappointed as I know I have the speed to run top five. Hopefully we can build on this at the next meeting.”
Roger Magee: HM Plant Red Bull KTM Team Manager “Today was a good start to the season. Jake had a couple of third places, although he had a bit of a problem in the last one when he didn’t get such a good start. We still finished on the podium, and equal to second on points. Zach Osborne also had a problem in the last one, so the championship is quite wide open already. Jordan had a good qualification in his first British Championship race for the team, but the races didn’t go his way with bad starts. In the last one he was fourth, but he had a bit of a crash and finished down in the points. He’s certainly learned a lot from the experience and will be working hard to come out fighting at the next one. Graeme suffered from a flu bug all week; we didn’t know if he would be able to complete all three races today in his MX1 debut, but he had three top tens with two sixth’s and a 10th, and he certainly has shown he has the pace to run with the top boys. It’s effectively his first day back racing since July last year, so we couldn’t have asked for any more and he finished top KTM rider of the day.”
For a full set of event results please copy and paste the following link into your web browser: http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=630239
HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK would like to thank its sponsors: HM Plant, Hitachi Construction Equipment, Red Bull, KTM, Trucks ‘R’ Us, Motorex, Bott, Prox, Cholwill Plant and Equipment Hire, Venhill, FMF, Volleberg Motorsport, Renthal, Edward J Magee, Press commercial bodyworks, Wiseco, TwinAir, EBC Brakes, Silent Sport Premium, Pro Carbon Racing, NGK, Donjoy, Samco Sport, GSPMX, Petersen Racing, Pulse Racing Products, Empire logo mats, High5 and Stolen Bike Co.
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