After the deep Dutch sand of the previous round, the 2009 FIM Motocross Championship campaign moved on to the rolling contours of the Agueda circuit in Portugal for round five of the series. Warm and dry weather meant that the spectacular track with its many undulations was in great shape both during Saturday’s busy qualifying programme, and thanks to some heavy watering overnight conditions were ideal for Sunday’s racing too.

Unfortunately Portugal did not prove to be a good hunting ground for Tom Church and Jason Dougan, with the pairing only managing to record one race result between them. For Phoenix Tools CCM Racing rider Jason Dougan his day was over before it had even properly began. A nasty crash on a double jump during Sunday’s morning warm up session saw Dougan land heavily on his head.

This left the twenty-two year old, who had been on the podium at last weekend’s Maxxis ACU British Motocross round, dazed and doubtful for the two main races. Jason did complete the sighting lap for the first moto, but never took his place on the line with him still feeling too dizzy to race safely. Bravely Dougan decided to go to the gate for the second moto, but a first corner crash was to bring a halt to his disastrous day.

Church enjoyed a slightly more productive day, and worked his way from twentieth place off the line in race one up to a solid fifteenth spot come the flag to record some valuable points. However his luck was to run out, when a rear suspension problem ruled him out of race two after just a few laps.

Church explained. “The track was very technical and quite stony in places, but I quite enjoyed the first race despite it being hard work out there. It was a shame about the second race, as I was confident I could at least match my first race result. Hopefully both Jason and I will both be back on form in Spain next weekend.”

There was some good news for the team as sixteen-year old female team member Alix Dunlop produced a gutsy performance when she once again lined up against the World’s best despite this being her first full season of racing. Alix placed seventeenth and twenty-first in the two motos and finished twentieth overall, which puts her in twenty-fourth spot in the overall standings.

The Buildbase CCM Racing team will be looking to quickly put this weekend’s events behind them as the 2009 FIM Motocross Championship moves swiftly on with Spain being the next stop on the tour in just seven days time. Once again Alix will join her male counterparts, as the Catalan circuit at Bellpuig hosts round three of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship and marks round six of the MX1 title race.