The reigning British Champion looked fit, fast and assured over the rough English sand, under some winter sunshine in low temperatures. A large crowd travelled to the renowned pre-season meeting in Shropshire, just west of the city of Birmingham.
Nunn blasted away from main rival Billy Mackenzieand young Kawasakirider Tommy Searle to win the first moto of 25 minutes and 2 laps and then took a steady 2nd position later in the day to confirm the overall victory. In the last race of the meeting, the ‘Grand Final’ between the best classified riders of MX1 and MX2, Nunn was holding a top six position before he crashed on the long, steep hill section and struggled to restart his machine. He did however manage to complete the race and was ranked 6th from the MX2 group.
Champ KTM team-mate Marc de Reuver was making his first tentative competitive outing of the year but was unable to place within the top ten.
The MX1 team of Mickael Pichon and Sebastien Tortelli were also in attendance. Pichon, who was ill during the week, was easing his way into competition and continuing to work on the set-up of the SX450F. The Frenchman scored a brace of 4th positions for 3rd place overall and was also 4th in the ‘Grand Final’. Tortelli had a crash-filled introduction to the Hawkstone sand with three falls in the first moto. The former World Champion’s best ranking was a 7th in the ‘Grand Final’.
Carl Nunn:
“This was good because I felt that my pace was there last week in Francebut my results did not really show it. I think a lot of people looked at that as if I hadn’t been working this winter when the complete opposite is the real truth. I am way ahead of my condition and readiness of last year; all I can do is build on this. My training is going great. I have lost a bit of weight to be lighter for the starts and it is working well. We are working on the starts as a team and it has been really effective, like we saw today. KTM have worked hard on the 250 and I feel really comfortable on the bike.