Matterley Basin – 21st Aug – World Championship

Decent day for Nicholls at home Grand Prix

HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK packed up after their home Grand Prix at Matterley Basin in Winchester reasonably content after Jake Nicholls finished sixth overall in the MX2 division on his 250SX-F. The thirteenth round of fifteen in the FIM Motocross World Championship revisited the spectacular site in southern England for the first time since 2006 and a 26,500 crowd across both days flanked the bowl setting under bright skies.

Nicholls was one of the many riders in the GP paddock to enjoy the soft, tacky mud, big jumps and open course that was widely proclaimed as one of the best tracks seen on the 2011 calendar this season.

The 21 one year old set about finding his speed on the English terrain but struggled slightly optimising the suspension set-up on his motorcycle to deal with the churning soil. A pair of less than ideal starts for the two forty minute races hardly helped his cause but Nicholls battled away, encouraged by the enthusiastic public. In the first moto he fought through to eighth and went two slots better at the second time of asking with a decentsixth and his second highest result of the year. Nicholls is now just ten points from deposing Christophe Charlier from eleventh in the world championship standings.

Team-mate Jordan Booker gated well but wasn’t at his best at Matterley and missed out on the points after a small technical problem in the first moto and several crashes in the second. In MX1 Tom Church was savouring a final home grand prix after long career. Aboard his 350SX-F theBath-resident grabbed a couple of points for seventeenth in the first race but upon running slightly wide on the first corner at the beginning of the second moto caught green fencing in his rear wheel and had to DNF after an attempt to continue.

HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK now have more duties on UK soil with the Hawkstone round of the Red Bull Pro nationals which will be followed by the Grands Prix of Europe (Gaildorf, Germany) and Italy (Fermo) on successive weeks. Tom Church will head to the USA in the coming days for the sandy Southwick AMA National. For more information visit the team’s website at: www.ktmukmx.com Photo courtesy of Ray Archer

Jake Nicholls:

“My starts were terrible today. I have been practicing them but I think we just need to find a bit more power out of the first part of the gate. I had factory bikes either side of me and I just seemed to lose out on that first little bit. It was a decent weekend, even if it did take me alittle while to get into the track and the suspension setting was slightly ‘out’ for here. 8-6 is a solid weekend if not one of the best. I really enjoyed the track. It was tough but technical and the whole home GP experience was really good.”

Jordan Booker:

“A bad day. It was nothing to do with pressure of the home GP; I just didn’t ride so well. I have been struggling with my starts but they were OK today and I couldn’t make the most of them. I was up to nineteenth when the bike stopped but I was able to restart and but lost almost a minute. In the second race I made too many mistakes and went down a couple of timeslike an idiot. I’ve got to try and pick the good bits out of it.”

Tom Church:

“It didn’t go well but I gave it my best shot. In the first moto I got right up there although I wasn’t riding my best in the second half. In the next one I thought I’d be able to grab a load of points but touched the green fence, like so many people before me, and it was a shame. I enjoyed the weekend and seeing all the people. A new adventure next week and I’m really looking forward to Southwick.”

Roger Magee, Team Principal:

“We had another strong day with Jake in the MX2 class and – again – if he had had better starts today then we would have seen something really special but we will take sixth overall. It was a good result at his home GP. Jordan had another difficult couple of races and a slight technical problem but got going again. Tom was set for some points in both motos but taking that green mesh around the rear wheel meant a DNF in race two. Anyway, we wish him all the best next week in Southwick where he will compete in his first AMA National and we want to thank KTM for their support over there.”

Photos courtesy of Ray Archer

Results

MX2 Moto1

1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 40:40.977; 2. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:10.203; 3. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), +0:12.899; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:29.008; 5. Valentin Teillet (FRA, Suzuki), +0:42.680; 6. Jeremy van Horebeek (BEL, KTM), +0:53.352; 7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:58.725; 8. Jake Nicholls (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), +1:00.280; 9. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +1:12.440; 10. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), +1:13.827; 26. Jordan Booker (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK)

MX2 Moto2

1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 41:04.388; 2. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:13.758; 3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:17.975; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), +0:42.166; 5. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), +0:53.031; 6. Jake Nicholls (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), +0:55.494; 7. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), +1:11.914; 8. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), +1:29.359; 9. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), +1:42.096; 10. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), +1:47.766; 22. Jordan Booker (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK)

MX2 Overall result

1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 50 points; 2. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 44 p.; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), 36 p.; 4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 34 p.; 5. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), 28 p.; 6. Jake Nicholls (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), 28 p.; 7. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), 24 p.; 8. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), 24 p.; 9. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KTM), 21 p.; 10. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 20 p.; 27. Jordan Booker (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK)

MX2 World Championship standings after 13 of 15 rounds

1. Ken Roczen (GER, KTM), 590 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 547 p.; 3. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), 479 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Yamaha), 425 p.; 5. Arnaud Tonus (SUI, Yamaha), 353 p.; 6. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), 342 p.; 7. Zachary Osborne (USA, Yamaha), 295 p.; 8. Harri Kullas (FIN, Yamaha), 287 p.; 9. Nicolas Aubin (FRA, KTM), 242 p.; 10. Joel Roelants (BEL, KTM), 226 p.; 11.Christophe Charlier (FRA, Yamaha), 203 p.; 12. Jake Nicholls (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), 193 p.;
MX1 Overall result

1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 45 points; 2. Christophe Pourcel (FRA, Kawasaki), 45 p.; 3. Steven Frossard (FRA, Yamaha), 44 p.; 4. Maximilian Nagl (GER, KTM), 32 p.; 5. Brad Anderson (GBR, Honda), 26 p.; 6. Jonathan Barragan (ESP, Kawasaki), 25 p.; 7. Anthony Boissiere (FRA, Yamaha), 23 p.; 8. Davide Guarneri (ITA, Kawasaki), 23 p.; 9. Rui Goncalves (POR, Honda), 22 p.; 10. Carlos Campano Jimenez (ESP, Yamaha), 21 p.; 11. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), 21 p.; 12. Gregory Aranda (FRA, Kawasaki), 18 p.; 13. Tanel Leok (EST, TM), 18 p.; 14. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Honda), 16 p.; 15. Billy Mackenzie (GBR, Kawasaki), 14 p.; 16. Xavier Boog (FRA, Kawasaki), 10 p.; 17. Matthias Walkner (AUT, KTM), 8 p.; 18. Manuel Monni (ITA, Honda), 8 p.; 19. Marcus Schiffer (GER, Suzuki), 5 p.; 20. Günter Schmidinger (AUT, Honda), 4 p.; 21. Gert Krestinov (EST, Kawasaki), 4 p.; 22. Tom Church (GBR, HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK), 4 p.;

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