Jake Nicholls interview – rolling back the years!
It was one of the best duels of the day as Jake Nicholls went back ten years to his MX2 glory days with a superb performance at the Hawkstone International battling fellow Brit, Joel Rizzi, at the front of MX2 and showed the speed and determination that had made Jake a podium level rider in the MX2 world championships.
Nicholls was loving it and you could see it in his riding as the British generations collided in a brilliant battle in that second MX2 moto, Rizzi eventually getting by Nicholls for the win with a couple of laps to go! Jake even led the superfinal for a couple of laps to end his day on a high.
Just before we joined the long que out of the venue and a race for our flight home, we grabbed a quick chat with Jake as he came back from the podium that saw him take second overall in MX2.
Jake, back to outdoors and it looked to me you were having one of the best days of your life out there! You were absolutely on the gas battling GP rider, Joel Rizzi!
(laughs) I had a really good day to be fair! I just ran out of steam at the end there. Just the 250, it was fun. I rode it once, I have rode motocross twice since Christmas and I have done no training at all, honestly, no training. Arenacross you can kind of get away with it because it’s fairly short and sharp. They text me Monday night and asked if I’d come and I was like, ‘ Aw really?!’ I was going to do an enduro today but then we had a deal and it’s been awesome to be fair, I am actually really pleased I came, it worked out good. The 250 is fun and to get second overall, I can’t believe it, I was worried about getting thrown out the back of the pack to be honest with you!
There might be a British championship on the horizon here for you as part-timer!
Yeah, I dunno! It’s fun on a 250 but I don’t know. You know, I retired from all the other bits, the training and we rode on Thursday this week and we were pissing around with suspension and the phone is ringing non stop and I was like, this is why I retired. I’d rather be at work, honestly. But I just love racing, I don’t really like practicing and the mid-week stuff.
I saw you in that second one hold Rizzi off for almost the full race, you were coming around the corner, on the gas, clutching, it looked like it was you in your glory days!
Yeah, I sort of got a bit of taste of it! If I could lose ten kilos and get a bit fitter I would probably be alright. It’s good fun, I really enjoyed it, no pressure and it was nice to see a good crowd and appreciate them having me.
Final question, you led the Hawkstone superfinal for a couple of laps – that must have been worth all the effort!
It was good until I ripped my hand, I have got no skin left on my left hand. i was like, ‘what are you doing, I can’t hold on, just stop!’
It’s a good way to advertise Tru7 as well in front of the big crowd!
Exactly! It was good.
Interview: Jonathan McCready
Image: Racepix
In case you missed it, check out our interview with Jake on his career below:
