Wilvo Forkrent KTM sealed their fist top ten finish of the season, after travelling across Europe to Trentino in Italy for the fourth round of the 2014 World Motocross Championship.
British rider Jake Nicholls made a great start to the weekend by qualifying inside the top ten. The MXGP rookie rode superbly throughout, holding the position for the whole race to finish in sixth. His team-mate, Matiss Karro found the track conditions more of a challenge and finished in 14th.
Race one saw both riders make reasonable starts with Nicholls moving into 11th and Karro 12th as they both gained places as Steven Frossard went out. Nicholls was looking to move forward but as he switched lines to pass Joel Roelants, he opened the door for Karro to slip through. Nicholls struggled with arm-pump throughout the remainder of the race and was forced to settle for 15th place.
Karro rode a strong race and continually pushed on the tail of Roelants just in front. He made a couple of mistakes on the closing laps, which allowed David Philippaerts and Xavier Boog through and then Shaun Simpson on the penultimate corner, subsequently losing places to finish in 13th.
Nicholls made a strong start in race two rounding the first turn in seventh. After conceding a place to Simpson he settled into a good rhythm, staying with his compatriot as they clicked off the laps with the pair moving up a position as Bobryshey crashed out. Nicholls eventually crossed the finishing line in ninth place.
He said: “It was a good weekend for me here at Arco di Trento. Qualifying went well, I got a good start and rode a strong race for sixth. In race one on Sunday I got a decent start but never really found my rhythm after getting held up by a few riders, I got swamped by the group behind and ended up in 15th.
“The second race was much better after another good start in seventh. I followed Simpson for the whole race and was faster than him in the last third but failed to make a move; with two laps left whilst trying to pass him I lost two places instead. I still finished ninth which I’m really happy with, it’s my first top ten in MXGP but more importantly the first time I’ve totally clicked with the 450.”
Karro struggled with the track in race two and lost places early on before regrouping to finish 15th.
Matiss said: “It was tough for me this weekend. I struggled with the track in both races and I couldn’t find the right lines and never really felt confident on the bike. I still managed to post two point scoring rides and didn’t crash so I’m happy about that.”
Team owner and Manager, Steve Turner expressed his delight in his team’s performance, saying: “I’m really happy that Jake took his first top 10 finish. He made two good starts but in the first race I think he just tried too hard to make passes and lost places as a result. In the second race he rode with great rhythm throughout and was unlucky that he lost a couple of places at the end, but ninth is a fantastic result.”
The team go into the MXGP of Bulgaria, on April 20 with Jake Nicholls in 15th and Matiss Karro 17th in the championship.
