Bad luck for Nicholls in World Motocross

IPSWICH teenager Jake Nicholls took part in round one of the World Motocross Championship on Sunday at Valkenswaard in Holland.

The 16-year-old has put in some great performances at British level recently but encountered some bad luck during the first round of the world MX2 class.

“The first round didn't go as well as I would have liked,” said Nicholls. “I felt pretty good during the practice sessions on Saturday morning and put in some ok laps.

“Then we had the qualifying heat and I tangled with someone down the start straight, nearly crashing which put me right at the back.

“I managed to claw my way back to 13th on lap three, and then put in another good lap to get 9th”.

By now, Nicholls had had got into a good rhythm, which would see him stay in the top 12 in order to qualify for the race.

“It all went wrong after that,” said Nicholls, “I was out at the back of the track and came over a jump to see a bike laying precisely where I was going to land my bike.

“There was no yellow flag to pre-warn me and so, with nowhere to go, I ploughed helplessly into the fallen machine, which made my bike cartwheel. I hit the deck quite hard but I got up and carried on with the race way down in the field.

“I managed to get back to 16th but didn't qualify, which meant I would go to the last chance timed session where the top 6 out of 25 qualify for the race on Sunday. It's a really tough 35 minute session like a super pole.

“I put a couple of good laps together at the start of the session and was 4th for a while but at the end I was 10th, just a few split seconds away from qualifying.

“I was truly gutted because in my head I had done it but was very unfortunate to land on a fallen bike after a jump.”

Nicholls' next race meeting will be round three of the British MX2 Championship at Lyng in Norforlk on Easter Sunday.

“I'm working harder than ever this week to prepare to for the British Motocross meeting at Lyng. I'll be out to make up for last weekend that's for sure.”