SCOTT Nicholls begins his quest for a sixth national championship tonight when he races in the British semi-final at Sheffield.

The Swindon charger is a five-time winner of the British final and enjoyed the majority of his success in the early to mid-noughties, scooping four titles between 2002 and 2006.

However, the last four years have seen the 33-year-old take top spot on just one occasion, in 2008, and his fierce rival Chris Harris has been top dog in both of the last two seasons.

The vast majority of pundits will expect Nicholls to breeze through tonight’s semi as the top seven will qualify for the final at Wolverhampton on June 6, with the other seven coming from tomorrow’s other semi, plus two wild cards.

A trip to Cardiff for the British Grand Prix on June 25 is an added incentive for the highest finisher apart from GP regular Harris, although Nicholls insists that is not what will motivate him to regain the national crown.

“It’s not about getting to Cardiff for me, it’s about becoming British champion,” he said.

“The national title means so much and everyone wants to be champion of their nation. It’s not just the British final, you can ask the Danes, the Poles and the Swedes, they all place a high priority on their national championship.

“I’m determined to go all the way but we all know the race for the title comes down to four laps in the final.”

The second semi takes place at Scunthorpe tomorrow and could see Robins skipper Simon Stead make his return from injury, while Chris Schramm is also scheduled to compete. The event was due to take place last Friday but rain caused its postponement at the Eddie Wright Raceway.

Meanwhile, Swindon’s Josh Grajczonek and Maciej Janowski both progressed through a world under 21 championship qualifier in Neustadt, Germany at the weekend.

Grajczonek finished third on 12 points behind Patryk Dudek and Andrey Kudryashov, while Janowski was just behind the Aussie on 11 points.

Elsewhere, in-form Poole number one Chris Holder is to ride in Steve Johnston’s farewell meeting at Swindon on June 23.

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