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2009
World Championships Nicholls ends bright 2009 equalling career-best in Brazil Red Bull KTM UK’s Jake Nicholls fittingly ended his best FIM Motocross World Championship campaign to-date by eclipsing his best result of 8th position; seized at a hot and sticky Canelinha circuit for the Grand Prix of Brazil and the fifteenth and last round of the 2009 FIM series. With his achievement on the 250 SX-F, 19 year old Nicholls has secured 17th place in the final MX2 classification. The red, twisty and very jumpy course 30km inland from the coast was soaked and almost turned into a bog by heavy rain in the days leading up to the GP. After practice and the qualification heat were cancelled in the interests of track preservation and safety, fortunately Sunday dawned bright, hot and sunny. The terrain was still slippery and muddy in the morning but quickly began to dry and the demands of the course varied throughout the day. Nicholls started poorly from the 10th pick in the gate after a rapid Timed Practice session in the morning and was pushing through for positions until a fault with his rear shock meant a rough ride for the remainder of the 35 minutes and 2 lap distance. Finishing 11th and suffering with a stomach upset as well as dehydration the young Brit gave a typically resilient and hard performance in the second moto and his placing of 7th equalled his highest recorded in his fledgling GP career. “This is my joint-best overall result so I am really happy,” he said. “I struggled a bit with arm-pump because we went straight into the races more or less but I think many people had the same thing. I didn’t get a good start in the first moto and just fought on until my shock started to malfunction. The oil was leaking out of it and the bike was hitting me so hard that it hurt my stomach and insides. I felt bad between the motos and had to go to the toilet a lot and could not drink anything. I was really dehydrated but rode my nuts off and gave everything that I had. I am exhausted now but pleased to finish this way and also move up in the championship.” As part of his most solid Grand Prix campaign so far, his first with the team and also with KTM, Nicholls managed seven top ten moto finishes. British Champion Stephen Sword did not travel to Brazil and his world championship placing in his sole season with the team is 23rd. Red
Bull KTM UK now have the final round of the Under 21 British Motocross
Championship next weekend at Culham, with the Maxxis British Championship
to look forward to at Landrake in Devon in two weeks time.
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