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Buildbase CCM Racing and Phoenix Tools CCM enjoy their best GP results to date |
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Sunday, 07 June 2009 |
The
French leg of the 2009 FIM Motocross World Championship proved to be
the best weekend of GP Racing to date with both Tom Church on the
Buildbase CCM and Jason Dougan on the Phoenix Tools CCM producing top
10 finishes on the Sunday.
The
French leg of the 2009 FIM Motocross World Championship proved to be
the best weekend of GP Racing to date with both Tom Church on the
Buildbase CCM and Jason Dougan on the Phoenix Tools CCM producing top
10 finishes on the Sunday.
It was Twenty Two year old Dougan who out sprinted his team mate Church
to qualify a seasons best at 11th in the Saturday afternoon qualifying
race after Church recorded a DNF due to a chain derailment. For much of
the qualifying race Dougan diced with series leader Cairoli as the hard
pack conditions began to suit Dougan’s smooth style.
Saturday’s
first leg of the ladies World Championship proved to be young Alix
Dunlop’s best finish of the year with a credible 14th place followed on
the Sunday by yet another points scoring finish in the very difficult
muddy conditions. Dunlop commented: I’ve been in Ireland for a week
doing some hard pack training and that really helped with my first race
finish but on Sunday the conditions were completely different, I got
taken down on the first lap but as the race progressed I just got
faster and faster and managed to sneak a point from dead last on the
first lap.
Sunday morning’s torrential rain greeted the GP
riders in their first MX1 race with the track conditions proving
treacherous. Dougan got taken out over one of the big table top and
after coming in for some make shift repairs started a lap down. His lap
times were on par to top 10 contenders however Dougan just failed to
get into the points. His team mate Tom Church was experiencing better
fortune though and was running as high as 9th for most of the race,
only just dropping to 10th when Pichon just nicked past on the last
lap. A delighted TC commented: As a team we’ve really taken a huge leap
forward in terms of performance and morale after a disappointing home
GP at Mallory and after the first race I was really pleased with my
performance even though Pichon just piped me on the last lap. After
Saturday’s DNF I was a little disappointed but I knew my lap times in
pre- qualifying were the best all year.
For the start of the 2nd
MX1 race, track conditions had improved with a dry line developing but
the track became very much one line making passing very difficult. As
the gate dropped it was TC who hole shot on the Buildbase CCM machine
sweeping past everyone on the outside. CCM have not led a GP since the
iconic days in the 1970’s with John Banks on the mighty 4stroke CCM at
the Farleigh Castle British GP. Church continued: I couldn’t believe it
when I rounded the first turn in first place, leading a MX1 GP race for
the first time in my racing career was great and to do it on a CCM was
awesome. TC raced comfortably amongst the MX1 elite holding a safe top
10 until just past half distance when he made a mistake & slipped
back to 13th. Dougan in the meantime was charging through the pack on
the Phoenix Tools CCM posting lap times that matched the top MX1
contenders. Jason held 9th until a few laps from the end when a small
mistake forced him to settle for a safe 10th spot to post his best GP
finish so far this year.
A delighted Dougan commented: I knew I
had the pace to run with the leading pack from Saturday’s qualifying
race so a top ten finish on the Sunday was what I was looking for.
The
CCM Team head to the midweek Patchquick meeting and then onto Hawkstone
Park for the next round of the British Championship hoping to build on
the best results at GP level since the season opener at Faenza - Italy.
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