Date: 15 April '07

The second round of the FIM MX world championship series has delivered a harsh blow to Gareth Swanepoel’s MX2 title aspirations. The Molson Kawasaki rider has enjoyed a string of excellent results this season, but unfortunately fell victim to the Spanish mud this weekend.

Swanepoel was first to brave the treacherous slopes of the Bellpuig circuit early Sunday morning, as the complete Saturday schedule was cancelled due to heavy rainfall. The South African banged in a lap straight away which secured him 7th spot on the grid.

A bad start had ‘Swanie’ having to fight his way through the pack on an almost impossible to pass, rutted and one-lined circuit. 18th place was the best he could do after a small crash made the task of a top ten finish virtually impossible.

A better jump in race two had ‘Swanie’ in the top ten but moments later a wrong choice of line cost the 22-year-old dearly has he once again found himself having to come from the back of the pack. ‘Swanie’ made great headway as he picked off riders one by one and was carrying enough speed to move into the top ten when Frenchman, Jeremy Tarroux took a tumble after the uphill, step-up obstacle and took ‘Swanie’ down with him. With all the hard work and positions lost Swanepoel once again salvaged three championship points (18th).

“Spain just doesn’t seem to be good to me” admitted Swanepoel “The track was quite tough but is was my starts that let me down. Times were good but coming from behind in these conditions is nearly impossible. This GP has been a setback but I’m not going to change my preparations because of it. I need to carry on working hard and obviously I’ll be focusing on my weaknesses before Portugal.”

As the GP teams trek across Spain to Portugal, Swanepoel flies back to Belgium for a few days of training before heading to Agueda for the 3rd of 15 rounds in the MX2 championship series.

Race reults:

MX Race 2

1 Pourcel, Christophe FRA Kawasaki
2 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha
3 Eggens, Erik NED Suzuki
4 Rattray, Tyla RSA KTM
5 Leuret, Pascal FRA Honda
6 Searle, Tommy GBR KTM
7 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha
8 Schiffer, Marcus GER KTM
9 van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL KTM
10 Seistola, Matti FIN Honda
11 Church, Tom GBR Kawasaki
12 Gundersen, Kenneth NOR Yamaha
13 Frossard, Steven FRA Kawasaki
14 Nunn, Carl GBR Yamaha
15 Dougan, Jason GBR Suzuki
16 Boog, Xavier FRA Yamaha
17 Verbruggen, Dennis BEL Yamaha
18 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki
19 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM
20 Krestinov, Gert EST KTM

MX2 Race 2
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha
2 Pourcel, Christophe FRA Kawasaki
3 Rattray, Tyla RSA KTM
4 Searle, Tommy GBR KTM
5 Aubin, Nicolas FRA Yamaha
6 Leuret, Pascal FRA Honda
7 Bonini, Matteo ITA Yamaha
8 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha
9 Boog, Xavier FRA Yamaha
10 Seistola, Matti FIN Honda
11 Frossard, Steven FRA Kawasaki
12 Simpson, Shaun GBR Kawasaki
13 Schiffer, Marcus GER KTM
14 Gundersen, Kenneth NOR Yamaha
15 Church, Tom GBR Kawasaki
16 Nunn, Carl GBR Yamaha
17 Boissiere, Anthony FRA Kawasaki
18 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki
19 Dougan, Jason GBR Suzuki
20 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM

MX2 World championship standings:
1 Cairoli, A. ITA 97
2 Rattray, Tyla RSA 82
3 Pourcel, C. FRA 81
4 Eggens, Erik NED 54
5 Leuret, Pascal FRA 53
6 Gundersen, K. NOR 50
7 Schiffer, M. GER 48
8 Searle, Tommy GBR 44
9 Aubin, Nicolas FRA 44
10 Swanepoel, G. RSA 41
11 Seistola, M. FIN 39
12 Monni, Manuel ITA 34
13 Boissiere, A. FRA 26
14 Frossard, S. FRA 25
15 Boog, Xavier FRA 25