Date: 7 March 2010

Gareth Swanepoel headed back to the UK this past weekend to contest the prestigious Hawkstone Park International. Swanie, who took 2nd place in the British Championship last weekend, headed into this race very confident in both his physical form and the performance of his new CAS Honda 450.

As the elite field blasted out the gate for the opening moto of the day Swanie looked good immediately, coming into view in 6th position. Riding in great form throughout the moto the South African pulled onto the back wheel of Desalle but just couldn’t make the pass needed, eventually crossing the line to take 6th position, just 1 second off Desalle.

In Moto 2 the number 8 CAS Honda of Swanepoel was once again strong out the gates, heading through turn one in the leading group. Swanie demonstrated he is going to be a tough competitor in 2010, as he once again rode superbly to take 4th in the moto, awarding him 5th overall for the day.

“ Today was positive, I rode my CAS Honda full race bike for the first time, and I just loved it. I have come away today even more confident in the equipment and I know that we have what it takes to be right up there in the GPs. For the coming weeks I am just going to keep working on my physical training, and look forward to being strong at the first GP in Bulgaria”. commented Swanie.

Results
Pos No. Name Total points R1 R2
1 11 Steve Ramon 35 15 20
2 2 Max Nagle 30 13 17
3 39 Tanel Leok 30 20 10
4 25 Clement Desaille 26 11 15
5 8 Gareth Swanepoel 23 10 13
6 14 Marc De Reuver 17 17 --
7 78 Bas Verhoeven 16 7 9
8 777 Evgeny Bobryshev 14 3 11
9 23 Carl Nunn 13 6 7
10 38 Yentel Martens 11 5 6