Date: 1 April 2007

After narrowly missing out on the champagne several times last year, Molson Kawasaki’s, Gareth Swanepoel, has finally cracked the cork at the first round of the FIM MX2 Motocross GP series in Valkenswaard today.

The South African’s 2007 MX2 GP campaign got off to a superb start when he found himself leading the first MX2 moto, five laps into the 40 min + 2 lap race. Swanepoel tried to fend off a charging Cairoli but the former MX2 world champ found a way past with ‘Swanie’ latching onto the Italian around the demanding Dutch sand circuit. Fellow countryman, Tyla Rattray, managed to close in on Swanepoel with five minutes to go with the Molson Kawasaki team happy with their rider settling for third.

A tougher task would lay ahead in moto two. Swanepoel had a mid pack start but successfully hugged an inside line going into the first turn and rocketed his KX250F into sixth spot as the pack completed the first lap. Aggressive riding by German, Marcus Schiffer, sent Swanepoel over the top of a berm however Swanepoel regained momentum and moved through the pack again into fourth position. Sand specialists, Eric Eggens and Norwegian Kenneth Gundersen, got the better of Swanepoel in the closing stages however sixth place was enough to clinch a certain spot on the podium.

“My first podium has been awesome with all the hard work we have put in during the pre-season and I have had plenty of support from the Molson Kawasaki team. It was great to lead the GP in the first moto and I tried to go as fast as I could for as long as possible. The track was a lot rougher in the second moto. To finish top three in the first GP is great. My aim is to try and get on the podium as much as possible and focus on it race by race. I need to keep getting good starts. I need to be consistent throughout the season but if I can carry on from here maybe I can start winning some GP’s. This has been an awesome start to the season,” smiled a thrilled Swanepoel.

Swanepoel heads to the UK for round 3 of the British champs next week, before making his way to the Catalonian town of Bellpuig for round two of the FIM Motocross world championship on the 15 April.

Race results:

MX2 Race 1

1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha

2 Rattray, Tyla RSA KTM

3 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki

4 Gundersen, Kenneth NOR Yamaha

5 Eggens, Erik NED Suzuki

6 Aubin, Nicolas FRA KTM

7 Pourcel, Christophe FRA Kawasaki

8 Schiffer, Marcus GER KTM

9 Leuret, Pascal FRA Honda

10 Searle, Tommy GBR KTM

11 Boissiere, Anthony FRA Kawasaki

12 Seistola, Matti FIN Honda

13 Boog, Xavier FRA Yamaha

14 Verbruggen, Dennis BEL Yamaha

15 Tarroux, Jeremy FRA Yamaha

MX2 Race 2

1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha

2 Rattray, Tyla RSA KTM

3 Pourcel, Christophe FRA Kawasaki

4 Eggens, Erik NED Suzuki

5 Gundersen, Kenneth NOR Yamaha

6 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki

7 Schiffer, Marcus GER KTM

8 Aubin, Nicolas FRA KTM

9 Boissiere, Anthony FRA Kawasaki

10 Verbruggen, Dennis BEL Yamaha

11 Leuret, Pascal FRA Honda

12 Hamblin, Sean USA Suzuki

13 Seistola, Matti FIN Honda

14 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha

15 Frossard, Steven FRA Kawasaki

MX2 championship standings:

1 Cairoli, A. ITA 50

2 Rattray, Tyla RSA 44

3 Swanepoel, G. RSA 35

4 Pourcel, C. FRA 34

5 Eggens, Erik NED 34

6 Gundersen, K. NOR 34

7 Aubin, Nicolas FRA 28

8 Schiffer, M. GER 27

9 Boissiere, A. FRA 22

10 Leuret, Pascal FRA 22

11 Verbruggen, D. BEL 18

12 Seistola, M. FIN 17

13 Searle, Tommy GBR 11

14 Hamblin, Sean USA 9

15 van Horebeek, J. BEL 9