Kegums , Latvia – 28th June 2009 – World Championship

Nicholls in the points at Kegums

Red Bull KTM UK’s Jake Nicholls was the sole representative of the team through a sandy and demanding Kegums circuit for the first ever Grand Prix of Latvia and the tenth round of fifteen in the FIM Motocross World Championship. The youngster rode to 20th position overall in the MX2 category thanks to results of 26th and 16th in the two motos run in cloudy and stuffy conditions.

An attendance of 32,000 travelled to the venue south-east of Riga that was excellently organised and presented and provided the riders of both MX1 and MX2 classes with a mean test of technical and physical capabilities thanks to the many jumps and rollers combined with the rough nature of the terrain.

Nicholls was the victim of a crash on the first lap of the qualification Heat and the incident set a trend for the weekend. Reasonable starts in Sunday’s motos and diligent application to reaching the fringes of the top ten were undone on both occasions. The youngster lost control over one of the bigger leaps in Moto1 and dropped down the order out of the points, and then suffered a slower speed tumble in Moto2 but still had time to fight back to 16th place.

“I couldn’t seem to get it right this weekend and had a fall in each race,” he said. “In the qualifying heat I had to fight all the way back through with top-ten times. In the first moto I got an average start but had a really big crash in the middle of the race which rung my bell. That was a sham because I was 14th and moving forward. In the second I was again hunting positions in the same area when I lost the front end in a berm; I just couldn’t judge it through all the roost. I came from last to 16th and I feel completely finished. Silly mistakes but I am learning how much they set me back. I tried my hardest out there and at least had some points to show for it.”

Stephen Sword missed the trip to the Baltic due to the hairline fracture on the small finger of his left hand that forced his withdrawal from the Grand Prix of Germany. The Scot should be back in contention for points at Uddevalla.

“Jake rode well again this week and but for a couple of crashes, should have made top 10 in both,” said Team Principal Roger Magee. “It wasn’t to be, however, and he lost some Championship positions to other riders. He did show, once again, his new-found turn of speed and we look forward to next weekend’s MXGP at Uddevalla. Hopefully, Swordy will be fit again to compete, and we await confirmation from Youthstream if Graeme Irwin will be able to obtain an entry.”

In the world championship standings Nicholls is closing on Sword in 18th and now holds 22nd position, 11 points from his team-mate.

Red Bull KTM UK will now complete their trek of three Grand Prix in three weeks with the trip to Uddevalla in Sweden.

In other news the latest meeting of the Under 21 and Open MMX Championships took place at Blaxhall, Suffolk. Graeme Irwin was 3rd overall (with 3-3) and is now on 166 points, as is Shane Carless and Scott Elderfield – a three way tie for the lead with 2 rounds to go. Alex Snow was 6th overall in the Open class and maintains his 4th spot in the Championship standings.

Results

MX2 Race 1 top ten: 1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 39:56.178; ; 2. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +0:05.504; 3. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), +0:05.765; 4. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:12.918; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:16.400; 6. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:17.077; 7. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Yamaha), +0:35.406; 8. Dennis Verbruggen (BEL, Honda), +0:35.870; 9. Manuel Monni (ITA, Yamaha), +0:36.058; 10. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Yamaha), +0:59.012; 26. Jake Nicholls (GBR, Red Bull KTM UK)

MX2 Race 2 top ten: 1. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 40:32.203; ; 2. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), +0:14.133; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:23.789; 4. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Yamaha), +0:46.401; 5. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), +0:50.211; 6. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:51.150; 7. Dennis Verbruggen (BEL, Honda), +1:27.441; 8. Marcus Schiffer (GER, KTM), +1:33.664; 9. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Yamaha), +1:36.924; 10. Jose Antonio Butron Oliva (ESP, Suzuki), +1:37.871; 16. Jake Nicholls (GBR, Red Bull KTM UK)

MX2 Overall top ten: 1. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 47 points; 2. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 47 p.; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 36 p.; 4. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), 36 p.; 5. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Yamaha), 32 p.; 6. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 30 p.; 7. Dennis Verbruggen (BEL, Honda), 27 p.; 8. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Yamaha), 23 p.; 9. Marcus Schiffer (GER, KTM), 22 p.; 10. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), 18 p.; 20. Jake Nicholls (GBR, Red Bull KTM UK)

MX2 Championship top ten: 1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 371 points; 2. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 322 p.; 3. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 301 p.; 4. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Yamaha), 296 p.; 5. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), 264 p.; 6. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), 200 p.; 7. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, Yamaha), 197 p.; 8. Xavier Boog (FRA, Suzuki), 197 p.; 9. Manuel Monni (ITA, Yamaha), 165 p.; 10. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), 157 p.; 18. Stephen Sword (GBR, Red Bull KTM UK) 87p; 22. Jake Nicholls (GBR, Red Bull KTM UK) 76p

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