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2009
World Championships Sword so close to Italian podium but Nicholls sets career-best
The first Grand Prix of the 2009 FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship for the Red Bull KTM UK team saw Stephen Sword so close to a podium result in his first appearance for the British crew at a soggy and cold Monte Coralli circuit in Faenza, Italy. Jake Nicholls however set a career-best GP finish of 10th place.
Sword, along with Nicholls, negotiated the first MX2 qualification Heat system on Saturday and a fast and short circuit presented an uncomplicated test. On Sunday however the duo encountered another extreme of racing conditions as rainfall through Saturday late afternoon-evening and virtually all of race-day turned the hardpack into deep, clumpy slime that either swallowed machines into the ooze or hardly permitted the MX2 machines to scale any of the steep slippery hills. Riders frequently pulled into the pits for fresh goggles and gloves and the race standings altered with every lap.
Sword used his experience to keep a consistent pace and approach and worked his way to third position until the final moments of the race when he climbed an uphill section and was nudged off balance and into the mud by another rider. The delay to restart caused him to tumble down the order and only pick up a disappointing 4 points from 17th place when it should have been a set of silverware for a top three berth.
“I did everything right for thirty minutes,” the three times British Champion said. “I was riding my own race and picking people off. I was taking my time and feeling really good. I would have been happy with a top five but I had ‘P3’ on the pitboard and was right behind Gautier and he went on to win it. We had both stopped at the bottom of the middle hill and there must have been six or seven guys stuck there. As I went up, one of them got on the gas and hit me and I lost control and that was that. I couldn’t restart and was absolutely knackered from trying, much more than actually doing the riding. I thought that extra lap that I could do would make the difference but overall it was one of those days where I did everything right but still feel a bit disappointed with how it turned out.”
Jake Nicholls took a more haphazard route to his result after a fall in the formative stages but the teenager was impressive in his diligence and pulled through to his first top ten finish. “I crashed on the first lap quite heavily and had to come in for more gloves and also sort out the bars that were quite bent,” he commented. “I rode around doing laps and just trying to stay on the bike. I kept circulating and ended up tenth; it was my best finish and perhaps lucky in some ways but well-earned in others; I did not crash when everyone else was bailing out.”
“The factory team were thinking of lodging a protest because Paulin was cutting the course and actually did it at the place where Stephen was stuck to take third place from him,” said Team Manager Roger Magee. “He could have had a first podium with us. Jake rode with a mature head, which was good considering he is only eighteen.”
The MX2 overall result also forms the early championship standings but the picture is likely to change in the coming weeks with two Grand Prix in a fortnight. The team now head north-east through Europe and to the Sevlievo circuit for the Grand Prix of Bulgaria next weekend.
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