Both Belgians travel to Portugal encouraged by their pace in the opening round of their domestic series on Friday. The 19-year old Desalle claimed the overall podium in Beervelde behind De Dycker and Philippaerts, Team mate Verbruggen was 8th overall and second MX2 mounted rider behind Joël Roelants.

On Sunday Clément ‘Panda’ Desalle also scored excellent second and third place finishes during the Flanders Trophy in Tongeren.

Clément Desalle

I reallly like Agueda because the dirt is so special and the layout of the track is interesting as well. I had some strong races in the Belgian Championship and in Tongeren so I know my speed is fine. For Agueda I will be aiming to be be more consistent than during the previous GP’s because at this level you really can’t afford to make mistakes, even when they are small ones!

Dennis Verbruggen

The Portuguese GP is not really my favourite track, but it’s not bad either. The soil is sort of intermediate, not too hard, not too sandy. For the moment my riding is improving and the Belgian championship race was another step in the right direction. My fitness is getting better as well, so I’m really keen on improving my classification. It’s about putting the hard work in and I know I will reap rewards for fighting till the last minute like I did in Valkenswaard.