BY Dick Law/ MotoHead. Jake Nicholls had a dream UK race debut on his new Buildbase Honda, cleaning up with three race wins at Sunday’s opening round of the Eastern Centre Motocross championship at a beautifully-prepared Blaxhall circuit in Suffolk.

With lots of meeting being cancelled over recent weekends because of snow and rain, many of the top Maxxis British championship riders took the opportunity to ride the event which hosts a round of the main British championship on May 6.

There was no stopping ex-GP rider Nicholls for after qualifying fastest by just over three seconds from Luke Norris and Lewis Tombs, he got thee holeshot at the start of the first race and rounded turn one with a lead of over five yards and that was the last anyone saw of him, except when he lapped them.

Jake Shipton and Dan Thornhill did their best to stay with the leader but toward the end of the race Tombs, disadvantaged at the start on his 250 compared with the 450s all-round him, caught and passed them both for second place.

It was a similar story in race two but this time Shipton crashed out big time from second place on the very last lap, spoiling his chance of a podium position. This bumped Tombs up to second but almost 33 seconds behind the winner Nicholls. Thornhill was third with local lad Luke Parker fourth while the second 250 home was Tom Grimshaw.

It was more of the same in the third and final race as once again Nicholls led from the first lap and cleared off, leaving the rest to squabble over second place.

Shipton started the race but pulled out after two laps, still hurting from his spill. It left Thornhill second and the flying Tombs third from Luke Benstead and Shaun Southgate.

Luke Parker’s race nearly ended at the end of the start straight when after his best start of the day, his fuel line fell off his bike, spraying the hot engine with fuel. He managed to re-connect the pipe and set off after the leaders dead last. Fired up, he got back to 11th place and salvaged sixth place overall for his efforts.

Overall it was Nicholls from Tombs, Thornhill, Southgate and Benstead.

In the junior championship after three qualifying sessions, Ryan Watts was the overall winner with two race wins and a second place.

Race two winner Matthew Hornsby was second with Alexander Hornsby third.

Eastern Centre Championship Results

Expert championship:

1 Jake Nicholls (Buildbase Honda) 25 + 25 + 25 = 75

2 Lewis Tombs (Putoline Husqvarna) 22 + 22 + 20 = 64

3 Dan Thornhill (Cab Screens Honda) 18 + 20 + 22 = 60

4 Shaun Southgate (Herts MX Honda) 16 + 14 + 16 = 46

5 Luke Benstead (Husqvarna) 11 + 15 + 18 = 44

6 Luke Parker (GH Motorcycles Husqvarna) 14 + 18 + 10 = 42

7 Tom Grimshaw (HCR Yamaha) 12 + 16 + 12 = 40

8 Declan Whittle (Husqvarna) 13 + 12 + 14 = 39

9 George Fountain (Husqvarna) 10 + 13 + 15 = 38

10 Ben Clark (Yamaha) 8 + 10 + 13 = 31

Junior championship:

1 Ryan Watts (Husqvarna) 25 + 22 + 25 = 72

2 Matthew French (KTM) 20 + 25 + 18 = 63

3 Alexander Hornsby (Suzuki) 22 + 12 + 20 = 54

4 Conner Baldry (Honda) 10 + 20 + 22 = 52

5 Benjamin Alexander (Husqvarna) 14 + 18 + 14 = 46

6 Robert Flaherty (Honda) 13 + 15 + 16 = 44

7 Amie Goodlad (Yamaha) 16 + 16 + 12 = 44

8 Joe Salmons (KTM) 12 + 11 + 15 = 38

9 Perry Galloway (KTM) 18 + 14 + 0 = 32

10 Jordan Pasquale (KTM) 15 + 13 + 0 = 28