Toni's 7 heaven

But the man who thrilled the home crowd was Jake Nicholls as the East Anglian came within three laps of a first-ever GP win in MX2. "I knew I had a lot to live up to after Tommy's win last year, but the feeling out there was unreal,” said Nicholls.

 

"The crowd were so loud at times that I couldn't even hear the motor.

 

"And the track was so rough on the straight by pit lane in race two that I couldn't read my pitboard, and after such a bad start I never dreamed that I was in contention for the overall win.”

 

It was a four-day festival of drama in all 11 classes, a long weekend to savour, but MX2 was certainly the highlight.

 

Morning showers had left the sweeping track treacherous and Nicholls admitted: "I don't think there was a single lap when I didn't get out of shape three times trying to chase down Dean Ferris for the win.”

 

Indeed it was his starts which cost Jake the win. 

 

Within two laps he was third in race one, but as ever needed time to get round Jose Butron and all the while Ferris was making good his escape. 

 

By the time Jake got through to second the gap was the length of the waves.

 

And although the gap closed before the end, it was always going to be a bridge too far unless the Australian messed up.

 

With qualification winner Jordi Tixier somersaulting down the track on lap three, Butron slipped back into the claws of Glenn Coldenhoff and Dylan Ferrandis, while Mel Pocock raced top six all moto and Elliott Banks-Browne completed the top ten. 

 

Graeme Irwin stuck in there for 15th and Nathan Watson advanced six places for 19th, but Max Anstie was a disappointing 17th.

 

The sun broke through for race two but the early laps were chaotic, as virtually all of the front men from the opener sought a way through the pack from poor starts.

 

And yet more drama was added by Tim Gajser who lost control exiting a right hander and his bike flew into the crowd, amazingly without a single spectator getting hurt.

 

Ferris started making moves fastest and was soon third behind Christophe Charlier and Butron to control the overall.

 

But the Australian wanted more and, attempting to go round the Spaniard, he slithered down the track, demolishing the radiator to end his three-moto win streak.

 

Nicholls was not even within sniffing distance of the top ten after an appalling start, and Coldenhoff 

was only a couple of places ahead of him.

 

Butron inherited the overall lead, though hard pressed by Ferrandis until the Frenchman went down, and by half-distance the virtual scorelines were Butron 38, Nicholls 37 and Coldenhoff 36.

 

However, Butron was coming under ever-increasing pressure from Romain Febvre and when the Frenchman slipped past five laps from the end Nicholls – unknown to himself – was leading the GP.

 

Coldenhoff was equally unaware of the overall standings and said: "I still didn't know when I crossed the line. 

 

"I just wanted to get as far forward as possible and saw the opportunity to pass Tixier.” 

 

 

Rd 16 – Matterley Basin, nr Winchester, BRITAIN

 1 Clement Desalle (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 22 + 25 = 47

 2 Kevin Strijbos (B - Rockstar Suzuki) 20 + 20 = 40

 3 Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS - Honda World) 18 + 18 = 36

 4 Ken De Dycker (B - Red Bull KTM) 16 + 15 = 31

 5 Tommy SEARLE (GB - CLS Monster PC Kaw) 15 + 14 = 29

 6 Gautier Paulin (F - KRT Kawasaki) 12 + 16 = 28

 7 Antonio Cairoli (I - Red Bull KTM) 25 +  3 = 28

 8 Shaun SIMPSON (GB - JK SKS Yamaha) 13 + 13 = 26

 9 Tanel Leok (EST - Ricci TM) 11 + 12 = 23

10 Jeremy Van Horebeek (B - KRT Kawasaki)  0 + 22 = 22

11 Matiss Karro (LAT - STR KTM) 10+11=21, 12 Milko Potisek (F - Monster Energy Yamaha) 8+10=18, 13 David Philippaerts (I - Gariboldi Honda) 14+0=14, 14 Augusts Justs (LAT - Latvia Elksni Honda) 4+8=12, 15 Jonathan Barragan (E - STR KTM) 7+4=11, 16 Marc De Reuver (NL - Stabilo KTM) 1+9=10, 17 Ludvig Soderberg (SF - Honda) 3+6=9, 18 Nicolas Aubin (F - Buildbase Honda) 9+0=9, 19 Tony CRAIG (GB - Honda) 0+7=7, 20 Scott ELDERFIELD (GB - Kawasaki) 2+5=7, 21 Joel Roelants (B - Monster Energy Yamaha) 6+1=7, 22 Alex SNOW (GB - Kawasaki) 5+0=5, 23 Nerijus Rukstela (LTU - KTM) 0+2=2.

RACE ONE: 1 Cairoli, 2 Desalle, 3 Strijbos, 4 Bobryshev, 5 De Dycker, 6 SEARLE, 7 Philippaerts, 8 SIMPSON, 9 Paulin, 10 Leok, 11 Karro, 12 Aubin, 13 Potisek, 14 Barragan, 15 Roelants, 16 SNOW, 17 Justs, 18 Soderberg, 19 ELDERFIELD, 20 De Reuver.

RACE TWO: 1 Desalle, 2 Van Horebeek, 3 Strijbos, 4 Bobryshev, 5 Paulin, 6 De Dycker, 7 SEARLE, 8 SIMPSON, 9 Leok, 10 Karro, 11 Potisek, 12 De Reuver, 13 Justs, 14 CRAIG, 15 Soderberg, 16 ELDERFIELD, 17 Barragan, 18 Cairoli, 19 Rukstela, 20 Roelants.

SERIES STANDINGS after 16 (of 17) rounds: 1 Toni Cairoli 718 points (CHAMPION), 2 Desalle 647, 3 De Dycker 573, 4 Paulin 513, 5 Strijbos 509, 6 SEARLE 460, 7 Van Horebeek 405, 8 Nagl 314, 9 Bobryshev 312, 10 Philippaerts 282, 11 SIMPSON 271, 12 Roelants 249, 13 Goncalves 230, 14 Leok 219, 15 Guarneri 195, 16 Boog 173, 17 Karro 171, 18 Barragan 149, 19 Justs 88, 20 Potisek 87,... 26 Jason DOUGAN 19,... 32 Billy MacKENZIE 12, 33 Adam CHATFIELD 12,... 43 CRAIG 7, 44 ELDERFIELD 7,... 47 Nathan WATSON 6,... 51 SNOW 5,... 55 Jamie LAW 4,... 

FINAL ROUND: September 8 – Lierop, HOLLAND.

 

Rd 16 – Matterley Basin, nr Winchester, BRITAIN

 1 Glenn Coldenhoff (NL - Standing Const KTM) 20 + 18 = 38

 2 Jake NICHOLLS (GB - Wilvo Nestaan JM KTM) 22 + 15 = 37

 3 Jose Butron (E - Silver Action KTM) 16 + 20 = 36

 4 Romain Febvre (F - Wilvo Nestaan JM KTM) 12 + 22 = 34

 5 Christophe Charlier (F - Monster Energy Yam)  3 + 25 = 28

 6 Mel POCOCK (GB - Monster Energy Yamaha) 15 + 12 = 27

 7 Dylan Ferrandis (F - Rockstar BUD Kawasaki) 18 +  7 = 25

 8 Dean Ferris (AUS - Monster Energy Yamaha) 25 +  0 = 25

 9 Elliott BANKS-BROWNE (GB - HM Plant KTM UK) 11 + 11 = 22

10 Max ANSTIE (GB - Rockstar Suzuki)  4 + 14 = 18

11 Jordi Tixier (F - Red Bull KTM) 0+16=16, 12 Harri Kullas (SF - Sahkar KTM) 7+9=16, 13 Kevin Fors (B - Kemea Reytec Yamaha) 10+5=15, 14 Tim Gajser (SLO - Marchetti  KTM) 14+0=14, 15 Arnaud Tonus (CH - CLS Monster PC Kawasaki) 0+13=13, 16 Steven Lenoir (F - Evotech Stevens KTM) 5+8=13, 17 Alessandro Lupino (I - CLS Monster PC Kawasaki) 13+0=13, 18 Stefan-Kjer Olsen (DK - Jtech ESTA Honda) 8+4=12, 19 Petar Petrov (BUL - Kemea Reytec Yamaha) 1+10=11, 20 Maxime Desprey (F - Monster Energy Yamaha) 9+1=10, 21 Graeme IRWIN (Heads & All Threads Suzuki) 6+3=9, 22 Jason Clermont (F - Kawasaki) 0+6=6, 23 Lewis TOMBS (GB - JAR IFS Honda) 0+2=2, 24 Nathan WATSON (GB - Red Bull KTM UK) 2+0=2.

RACE ONE: 1 Ferris, 2 NICHOLLS, 3 Coldenhoff, 4 Ferrandis, 5 Butron, 6 POCOCK, 7 Gajser, 8 Lupino, 9 Febvre, 10 BANKS-BROWNE, 11 Fors, 12 Desprey, 13 Olsen, 14 Kullas, 15 IRWIN, 16 Lenoir, 17 ANSTIE, 18 Charlier, 19 WATSON, 20 Petrov.

RACE TWO: 1 Charlier, 2 Febvre, 3 Butron, 4 Coldenhoff, 5 Tixier, 6 NICHOLLS, 7 ANSTIE, 8 Tonus, 9 POCOCK, 10 BANKS-BROWNE, 11 Petrov, 12 Kullas, 13 Lenoir, 14 Ferrandis, 15 Clermont, 16 Fors, 17 Olsen, 18 IRWIN, 19 TOMBS, 20 Desprey.

SERIES STANDINGS after 16 (of 17) rounds: 1 Jeff Herlings 692 points (CHAMPION), 2 Tixier 569, 3 Butron 506, 4 Charlier 467, 5 Coldenhoff 450, 6 Ferris 434, 7 NICHOLLS 407, 8 ANSTIE 320, 9 Lupino 319, 10 Ferrandis 287, 11 Petrov 278, 12 Febvre 267, 13 POCOCK 261, 14 Tonkov 244, 15 Kullas 208, 16 Desprey 195, 17 Rauchenecker 123, 18 BANKS-BROWNE 119, 19 Olsen 118, 20 Gajser 112,... 38 James DUNN 7,... 45 TOMBS 2, 46 WATSON 2,...

FINAL ROUND: September 8 – Lierop, HOLLAND.