Date: 12 April 2009

For the first time in the 52 year history of the Motocross World Championships this weekend would see the world’s best riders head to Istanbul in Turkey to go head to head in round 3 of the championship. Factory Kawasaki’s Gareth Swanepoel headed into this weekend confident after his strong performance on the KX450F-SR in heat 2 of last weekend’s Bulgarian GP.

Saturday was a tough day for the charging South African as he battled to get flowing on the brand new Hezarfen circuit. Only managing a 16th in the short qualifying race meant ‘Swanie’ did not get a good gate pick for the two 35 minute and 2 lap main races, meaning strong starts would be tough to achieve.

As the gate dropped for Heat 1 Gareth was in the middle of the action, rounding up lap 1 on the rough and one lined circuit in 15th position, giving him some work to do to get himself into the top 10 where he was aiming for. As ever Gareth became faster and stronger as the race progressed, one by one he started getting the passes in as he slowly climbed up the score sheets. Having ridden a solid race, Gareth Swanepoel crossed the finish in a respectable 11th position amongst a packed field of past MX1 Grand Prix winners.

Desperate for a better start in Heat 2 ‘Swanie’ lined up his ‘green machine’ ready to get a good jump out the gate. In the heat of the moment Gareth dropped the clutch a split second too early and his bike got stuck under the dropping gate as the rest of the pack where on their way towards the first corner. A disastrous start, completing lap one in 28th position, the outlook was not good. On the first 8 laps of the race, Gareth made at least one pass on every single lap, getting him up to 19th position at roughly the half way point. Over the next few laps the Kawasaki rider made a few more passes before settling in 16th position where he remained until the end of the tough race.

“ Coming from the back of the pack is just so hard, all the riders in the top 20 positions are so equally matched that it is almost impossible to get a great result with the kind of starts I’m getting this year. In Heat 2 I just got too excited and dropped the clutch too quick making it even worse. This week I am going to do some testing on the starts to get them better, hopefully I can run with the boys in Valkenswaard.”

MX1 Race1
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha
2 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki
3 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Honda
4 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha
5 de Dycker, Ken BEL Suzuki
6 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM
7 Barragan, Jonathan ESP KTM
8 Coppins, Joshua NZL Yamaha
9 Desalle, Clement BEL Honda
10 Vuillemin, David FRA Kawasaki
11 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki
12 Mackenzie, Billy GBR Honda
13 Priem, Manuel BEL Aprilia
14 de Reuver, Marc NED Honda
15 Bill, Julien SUI Aprilia

MX1 Race 2
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha
2 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha
3 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki
4 de Dycker, Ken BEL Suzuki
5 Leok, Tanel EST Yamaha
6 Barragan, Jonathan ESP KTM
7 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Honda
8 Coppins, Joshua NZL Yamaha
9 Desalle, Clement BEL Honda
10 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki
11 Aranda, Gregory FRA Kawasaki
12 Noble, James GBR Suzuki
13 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM
14 Vuillemin, David FRA Kawasaki
15 Bill, Julien SUI Aprilia
16 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki

MX1 GP Overall:
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha
2 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki
3 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha

MX1 World championship standings:
1 Cairoli, A. ITA 98
2 de Dycker, Ken BEL 94
3 Philippaerts, D. ITA 88
4 Coppins, J. NZL 85
5 Barragan, J. ESP 83
6 Ramon, Steve BEL 78
7 Leok, Tanel EST 73
8 Nagl, M. GER 73
9 Desalle, C. BEL 61
10 Strijbos, K. BEL 50
11 Vuillemin, D. FRA 40
12 Swanepoel, G. RSA 34
13 Leok, Aigar EST 32
14 Noble, James GBR 27
15 Pourcel, S. FRA 26