In the MX2 class of the 2025 Motul ACU British Motocross Championship Round 3 at Blaxhall, Crendon Tru7 Honda CRF250R rider Jake Nicholls was keen to show his speed on a track he has ridden many times over the years. But he didn’t get a great start and was 13th on the first lap. Urged on by the crowd and his family and friends, the 35-year-old staged an amazing charge through the field and ended up seventh.
Words and Images by Crendon Tru7 Honda
But he really showed his pace in race two by getting a flying start and held second place on the opening lap behind GP regular Oriol Oliver. Nicholls was put under pressure by the men battling for the red plate, Tommy Searle and Billy Askew, with EMX 250 rider Gyan Doensen in pursuit.
READ MORE: BRITISH MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP NEWS
Nicholls, who now only races part-time, couldn’t hold off the hard-charging men right behind and dropped back to fifth, but then took fourth when Doensen went down. That gave Nicholls fourth overall and moved him into the top ten in the championship.
Nicholls said: “It’s nice to be at the local race. And I’m not going to lie, when this place gets a bit wet after a lot of rain like we had Friday, it’s never really my cup of tea. So I was a bit sceptical how it’d be, but it turned out great.
“In the first race had a rubbish start and I worked really hard first ten minutes to get through and just absolutely spent myself. So I never really recovered from that, but ended up seventh, which was sensible. And then second one got out of the gate good, came around second and then hung in there. I really put a shift in for 10 or 15 minutes. I was really tired, riding around thinking I wish I did more training and more riding.
“But needless to say it was a good day. Seventh and the fourth in a local race, on a really, really tough track. So it made me feel a bit better as a 35-year-old part-timer now to hang in there. I had lots of family, friends sponsors and business customers here so it’s good to pt on a good show.
“And I have to say the bike was fantastic. The bike took me around there today, it really did. The suspension was great, thanks to Mark Eastwood, which we tweaked in between the races and the engine was fantastic. It got me out of the start. Hopefully I’ll get that mid-season flow and go from there.”
MX2 Results:
1 Oriol Oliver 50
2 Billy Askew 42
3 Tommy Searle 42
4 Jake Nicholls Crendon Tru7 Honda 32
5 Charlie Heyman 31
6 Ben Mustoe 29
7 Ollie Colmer 29
8 Josh Vail 22
9 Matt Bayliss 21
10 Glenn McCormick 20
Championship points after three rounds
1 Tommy Searle 131
2 Billy Askew 120
3 Bobby Bruce 93
4 Ben Mustoe 92
5 Charlie Heyman 87
6 Ollie Colmer 83
7 Oriol Oliver 79
8 Gyan Doensen 76
9 Jake Nicholls Crendon Tru7 Honda 75
10 Glenn McCormick 70
