Wilvo Forkrent KTM’s Jake Nicholls has shelved plans to make his first Grand Prix appearance of the year this weekend at Arco di Trentino for the Trentino round in Italy and has decided to give his right arm more time to heal after the severe fracture at LaCapelle Marival pre-season meeting.
The 25 year old is currently assessing what has been a fast and positive recovery from the injury to be able to take to the gate next week at Valkenswaard for the GP of Europe and the fifth round of the 2015 MXGP series.
The former MX2 podium finisher competed in the second round of the Maxxis British Championship at Lyng two weeks ago but since underwent another operation to remove a troublesome pin from the limb.
“The main fracture was in the radius and this has been plated and healing well but the pin was becoming more and more irritating in the ulna that was a secondary fracture caused by the deformation of the radius,” he says. “It was always meant to be removed between six-to-eight weeks and I’m now in the seventh and I won’t be ready for Arco.”
Nicholls has been luckless since climbing into the premier class. A series of promising performances in MXGP were soon scrubbed when he lost the second half of a debut 2014 campaign due to a badly mangled little finger. An extended winter of training and preparation was then wrecked by the fall in France during February.
“I don’t want to come back to Grand Prix until my arm is good enough for me to give 100 per cent,” he says. “I was able to ride at 85 per cent in the British Championship and it went quite well. I have been training and my fitness is very good. My arm improves every single day so we’ll see for Valkenswaard next week.”
The British KTM team could use some good news with 2015 star signing Steven Frossard so far struggling to reach the top five of the premier class and the ’14 Motocross of Nations winner has been nursing a sore wrist.
