Lommel, Belgium – 2nd August 2009 – World Championship

Nicholls 16th and unlucky at Lommel

Red Bull KTM UK’s Jake Nicholls was set for a fine result in the physical and technical ‘hell’ that is the rough and demanding sand of the Lommel circuit for the Grand Prix of Belgium and the twelfth round of fifteen in the 2009 Motocross World Championship. The teenager scored a strong 11th place in the first moto run under cloudy, cool and wet conditions and expected another spot on the fringes of the top ten in the second sprint before a fall caused damage to the SX-F and forced him out of the race.

28,000 spectators travelled to the flat but lengthy circuit in the heart of Limburg and the arrival of Lommel on the GP calendar – the series resuming activity after a three week break – meant arguably the hardest physical and mental test for the riders this season.

Nicholls, who had spent the better part of a month living and training in Belgium in preparation for the event, the first of two sandy meetings left in the four remaining GPs, started the weekend well with 11th position in the Qualification Heat. He then launched out the gate reasonably quickly at the first time of asking on Sunday and proceeded to circulate just outside the top ten, gaining two positions on the final lap.

The second moto ended prematurely when a small technical hitch caused the Brit and winner of the last round of the Maxxis British Championship to momentarily lose his focus and crashed, bending the bike to a point that he was unable to continue. He classified 16th overall.

“The day started off pretty good for me, I knew a sand race would be tough,” he said. “I did not get the best start but rode OK and got up to a fairly decent position. I wasn’t tired at all and kept pushing and gaining those two places on the last lap was a bonus. I am not a natural sand rider so I had been doing a lot of work over here with Josh Coppins and I was very happy to gain a result like that.”

“I had a terrible start in the next race and nearly hit someone exiting the first corner. I pulled through to around fourteenth when the bike started to smoke, the breather pipe had burnt-through, and it upset my concentration a little because I’ve had some big accidents before through engine trouble. I was setting some good times but saw some smoke again and made a mistake on the approach to a jump which put me sideways and I crashed. I winded myself but was OK. I had to come back to the pits because the bike was too bent out of shape to continue. I absolutely hate not finishing a race, so this is disappointing but I can take stock from the first moto and also qualifying. We go to Loket next which is a circuit I love.”

Stephen Sword hoped to make his first Grand Prix appearance since Germany but a hefty crash on Saturday when he crested a jump and blindly landed on a fallen rider’s machine left the former multi British Champion banged up and unfit to ride.

“I had a pretty big crash on Saturday that I could do nothing about and it gave me a headache that lasted most of the night,” he commented.”My body ached and I felt completely under the weather. I knew I would need to feel better than I did to even attempt to get some positions out there. Sums up my luck a little bit at the moment but we will try again next week.”

Nicholls is currently 17th in the championship standings and will have to shut-down a 22 point gap for further promotion. Sword is 22nd and now three Grand Prix without numeration.

Red Bull KTM UK will now travel south-east across Europe and to the hard-pack and slippery Loket circuit for the Grand Prix of Czech Republic.

Results

MX2 Race 1 top ten: 1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 41:56.587; ; 2. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +0:09.841; 3. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:20.355; 4. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), +1:55.488; 5. Dennis Verbruggen (BEL, Honda), +2:03.427; 6. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), +2:17.114; 7. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Yamaha), +2:22.731; 8. Rasmus Jorgensen (DEN, Suzuki), +2:25.810; 9. Manuel Monni (ITA, Yamaha), +2:30.504; 10. Loic Larrieu (FRA, Yamaha), +2:35.433; 11. Jake Nicholls (GBR, Red Bull KTM UK)

MX2 Race 2 top ten: 1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 41:57.742; ; 2. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:18.051; 3. Dennis Verbruggen (BEL, Honda), +0:35.797; 4. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, Yamaha), +1:01.908; 5. Marcus Schiffer (GER, KTM), +1:14.808; 6. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), +1:28.517; 7. Rasmus Jorgensen (DEN, Suzuki), +1:29.605; 8. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), +1:32.435; 9. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Yamaha), +2:02.999; 10. Manuel Monni (ITA, Yamaha), +2:10.331;

MX2 Overall top ten: 1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 50 points; 2. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 42 p.; 3. Dennis Verbruggen (BEL, Honda), 36 p.; 4. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 35 p.; 5. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), 30 p.; 6. Rasmus Jorgensen (DEN, Suzuki), 27 p.; 7. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, Yamaha), 26 p.; 8. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Yamaha), 26 p.; 9. Manuel Monni (ITA, Yamaha), 23 p.; 10. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), 23 p.; 16. Jake Nicholls (GBR, Red Bull KTM) 10p

MX2 Championship top ten: 1. Marvin Musquin (FRA, KTM), 421 points; 2. Rui Goncalves (POR, KTM), 383 p.; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Kawasaki), 372 p.; 4. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Yamaha), 357 p.; 5. Steven Frossard (FRA, Kawasaki), 284 p.; 6. Ken Roczen (GER, Suzuki), 269 p.; 7. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, Yamaha), 229 p.; 8. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 222 p.; 9. Manuel Monni (ITA, Yamaha), 222 p.; 10. Xavier Boog (FRA, Suzuki), 197 p.; 17. Jake Nicholls (GBR, Red Bull KTM UK) 109p; 22. Stephen Sword (GBR, Red Bull KTM UK) 87p

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