Albion KTM: Church charge proves potential.

Tom Church put in one of the best rides of his GP career so far at round two of the 125cc World Motocross Championship on Sunday, in Valkenswaard, where he finished the 35-minute plus two lap event in 11th position to move him to 14th place in the rankings.

Church rounded lap one in 8th position in his Albion KTM, and then began a race long defence in the deep and demanding Dutch sand.

"I made a good start and held on basically, I felt that I have been carrying good speed during the last few weeks but my starts have been letting me down," said Church, who came into the first turn with the top six riders.

"I dropped back a little as everyone was fighting to establish themselves on the first lap but then I settled down into 9th place for maybe seven or eight laps, I lost one place to a Belgian guy but I thought at one stage I could push on the guys in front but by the end I was starting to get a little tired," admitted Tom.

With only four laps remaining, Church started to come under increasing pressure from South African Tyla Rattray: "I was pushing to hold him off but he got by me, I then managed to keep the gap between me and Rodrig Thain to five seconds as I didn't want to loose any more ground."

"Tom is improving with each ride, he showed that last week in the British Championship, I think that has given him the confidence he needed to prove to himself that he can run top ten easily in the 125 grand prix's if not higher," declared Team Manager Gary Elston.