2009 World Championships
Mallory Park, Great Britain - 31st May 2009

Sword top British finisher on home turf

Round seven of fifteen in the 2009 FIM Motocross World Championship represented the home Grand Prix for the Red Bull KTM UK team and a hot and sunny Mallory Park, crowded by a public of 35,000 saw Stephen Sword finish as the top British rider with 11th position and a second moto result of 6th; his second highest of the season so far.

The weekend didn’t start on the best foot with Sword and team-mate Jake Nicholls again struggling to enter the first half of the field in the qualification heat. The second year for the British Grand Prix at Mallory Park saw some alterations to the windy and demanding circuit; a layout very busy with jumps and difficult for overtaking due to the varying softness of the loose, stony terrain.

Despite his lowly gate position for Sunday, Sword enjoyed arguably two of his best starts of the year, rounding the first corner in fourth and then second positions at the beginning of each sprint; the roar of engines matched by hearty vocal support by the surrounding public.

Sadly a spluttering rhythm saw the former British Champion lose positions to cross the line down in thirteenth. It was an outcome he was determined to reverse for the second race. Sword gallantly held his pace with the glut of French riders at the front of the field later in the afternoon (despite a small crash) and enjoyed split times that were among the fastest on the track. By the chequered flag he gave the team reason for cheer with 6th and hopefully a stepping stone to better results in the coming month with four rounds in the next five weeks.

“My starts were good all day,” he recounted. “In the first race I settled and was holding sixth place comfortably but then I started to tighten up and lost rhythm. The track had bumps everywhere and was really technical in sections. I was struggling to get the corners right and that’s what buggered my first race up really.”
“In the second one I was desperate to get a top six finish,” he continued. “I got another good start and was second behind Rui. The track had been watered so I knew the first few riders would be able to break away. I got my head down but the top three were a little bit faster all day. It was the last section where I was losing all my time; the first two splits were good and I was as fast as the front guys, so it was shame I could not get that sorted. I slipped off when I lost the front in a corner and the heat hit me but I was able to try and catch Van Horebeek near the end and also keep Boog away. I was pleased to take sixth and need to bang away as many similar results as possible. I would like to think this might be a turning point after a rough year so far.”

Jake Nicholls was 15th overall with positions of 15th and 17th in what was his first British Grand Prix. The youngster was one of the many riders desperate to find effective passing opportunities. “This is the first time I have raced at the British Grand Prix so it was a bit weird, in the past I have never got past qualification,” commented Nicholls. “I struggled a little bit at the start of both races with the pace. In the first I got arm-pump but I came strong at the end and in the second one my pace was good in the second half of the moto but I just couldn’t find a way past; I think this is the hardest track I have ever ridden for overtaking. Overall it was a really tough set of races but I am quite happy with the way I rode.”

Mallory Park also gave a stage for Graeme Irwin and British Under 21 champion Alex Snow to join the Grand Prix fraternity. Irwin missed out on the points both times in what was a tough but educational first taste of the world championship, while a similar story lay in store for Snow, who was the team’s sole representative in the MX1 category for his international debut on the bigger machine.

“The weekend started off averagely but Stephen was able to prove that he has the speed to run with the top guys and the bike was more than capable of competing with the full factory machines,” reflected Team Principal Roger Magee. “Jake put in another two good point scores and keeps on pegging away at the championship standings and should hopefully by the end of the year be in the top fifteen. Young Graeme Irwin had a baptism of fire but he now knows what it is like to run with those guys, Alex had a good qualifying race yesterday and if someone had not crashed in front of him then he might have held 16th place. It was his first GP on a 450 so we could not expect too much. We will look forward to next weekend where the team will split again with the guys going to Ernee in France and Alex and Graeme heading to Whitby.”

Sword is 15th in the world championship while Nicholls is 21st.

The team now have a busy programme with the French Grand Prix at Ernee next week, then British Championship duties at Hawkstone Park before more world championship adventures in Germany, Latvia and Sweden leading up to the summer break. Snow and Irwin will be in Whitby next weekend for the latest Red Bull Nationals event.

KTM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - Round 7 - Mallory Park - 31st May 2009 

Return to results