La Bañeza, Spain – 19th June 2011 – World Championship
Nicholls closes in on regular top ten slots
HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK Jake Nicholl’s was frustrated by lacklustre starts and a tight and twisty La Bañeza circuit to place eleventh overall at the Grand Prix of Spain and the seventh round of fifteen in the FIM Motocross World Championship.
The Spanish course was difficult only in the shallow depth of overtaking opportunities that the curling layout permitted. Stony and slippery in places with the hard-pack forming deep and unforgiving ruts on many of the closed corners, the short track did not present a technical challenge and cast any realistic contenders for the podium from the very first corner.
Nicholls was heartened by a decent getaway and performance in the Saturday Qualification Heat to capture 8th choice of slots in the gate for Sunday. His promising position was not to act a springboard for better results though as a small slip from his 250SX-F in the first moto saw ‘45’ fighting to come back from eighteenth to reach fourteenth. A poor exit from the gate at the second time of asking gave Nicholls a long and hard 35 minutes and 2 laps under hot sunshine as he rode well to reach eleventh.
The 21 year old has missed world championship rounds in Bulgaria, Holland, USA and Brazil but has since been picking up a steady stream of points. The Englishman stands eighteenth in the table. Jordan Booker wasabsent from La Bañeza in the wake of his heavy fall in Portugal last week.
The team will prepare for their home event next week at Desertmartin in Northern Ireland for the fifth round of the Maxxis British Championship before another three week trek of Grand Prix races to Sweden, Germany and Latvia.
Photos courtesy of Ray Archer
Jake Nicholls:
“It’s a shame really as yesterday I put myself in a good position with eighth in qualifying and felt really good. For some reason itdidn’t work out for me today. I was around tenth by lap four of the first moto and was coming through when I just dropped the bike trying to pass on a track that was so ‘one-line’. Maybe I was trying a bit too hard but anyway I dropped to eighteenth and then fought back to fourteenth. I had a ‘mare of a start in the second one. The bike just did not pull out of the gate. I was right at the back and went a bit mad to make positions. I reached eleventh but then there was a big gap to tenth and I couldn’t make the difference. I’m pretty frustrated because I really wanted to get in the top ten and was more than capable of doing that; I have to be a bit smarter I guess.”
Results
1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 38:42.572; 2. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:03.076; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:28.147; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:36.729; 5. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), +0:50.104; 6. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:59.626; 7. Joel Roelants (BEL,KTM), +1:13.299; 8. Nick Triest (BEL, KTM), +1:28.888; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +1:31.106; 10. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), +1:33.652; 14. Jake Nicholls (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), -1 lap
MX2 Moto2
1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 39:36.830; 2. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:10.524; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:14.845; 4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:20.214; 5. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:22.245; 6. Zachary Osborne (USA, Yamaha), +0:52.604; 7. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:53.458; 8. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), +1:07.047; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +1:20.234; 10. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), +1:29.358; 11. Jake Nicholls (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), +1:43.453;
MX2 Overall result
1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 50 points; 2. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 44 p.; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), 38 p.; 4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 38 p.; 5. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), 31 p.; 6. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), 29 p.; 7. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 28 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), 24 p.; 9. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), 22 p.; 10. Nick Triest(BEL, KTM), 19 p.; 11. Jake Nicholls(GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), 17 p.;
MX2 World Championship standings after 7 of 15 rounds
1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 301 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 295 p.; 3. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 268 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), 234 p.; 5. Zachary Osborne (USA, Yamaha), 213 p.; 6. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), 197 p.; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), 167 p.; 8. JoelRoelants (BEL, KTM), 166 p.; 9. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), 164 p.; 10. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), 151 p.; 18. Jake Nicholls (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), 53 p.;
Event Photo Gallery
