Date: 25 April 2010

Perfect Summer weather conditions welcomed a strong Dutch crowd to the 3 round of the FIM Motocross world championship in Valkenwaard this weekend. CAS Honda racer, Gareth Swanepoel, performed well in the treacherous sand conditions however the South African had his work cut out having to come from behind in both his Saturday qualification race and moto 1.

A second turn crash in the short 20 min qualification race on Saturday cost Swanie a good starting position has he had to fight his way from stone last to 21st.

Feeling more confident after posting 5th time in Sunday’s morning warm up practice, Swanepoel was placed wide on the gate for moto 1. He reacted well as the gate dropped but was bumped wide going into the first turn and emerged outside the top 20 on lap one. Swanepoel put his head down and charged through the pack rocketing to 11th spot with one lap remaining. A back marker went down right in front of Swanepoel, allowing Xavier Boog to get past relegating Swanepoel to 12th at the checkered flag.

A better start in moto 2 would see Swanepoel in 11th spot as he gave chase to a train of riders in front. With track conditions deteriorating, Swanepoel tried to conserve his energy has he put in consistent lap times to finish the moto in 10th spot.

“I was much happier with today’s race compared to yesterday” admitted the South African. “It’s important to put in a good qualifying result on Saturday and carry that through on Sunday. The MX1 class is so stacked and a lot of riders are running the same pace so it’s important to get a good start and try run up front rather than on the back end of the train. I’m looking forward to Portugal and Spain as the weather will be even warmer and I enjoy those sort of weather conditions. I’m on the right track so just need to keep working and the good results will come”

Swanepoel heads to Duns for round three of the British MX champs next weekend before round 4 and 5 of the MX GP’s will follow in Portugal and Spain thereafter.

Image: CDS

Race results:

MX1 Race 1
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM
2 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha
3 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki
4 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM
5 Leok, Tanel EST Honda
6 de Dycker, Ken BEL Yamaha
7 Guarneri, Davide ITA Honda
8 Albertson, Jimmy USA Honda
9 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS Honda
10 de Reuver, Marc NED Suzuki
11 Boog, Xavier FRA Kawasaki
12 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Honda
13 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha
14 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Suzuki
15 Söderström, Tom SWE Yamaha

MX1 Race 2
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM
2 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki
3 Leok, Tanel EST Honda
4 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha
5 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS Honda
6 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM
7 de Dycker, Ken BEL Yamaha
8 Albertson, Jimmy USA Honda
9 Coppins, Joshua NZL Aprilia
10 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Honda
11 Guarneri, Davide ITA Honda
12 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Suzuki
13 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki
14 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha
15 Boog, Xavier FRA Kawasaki

MX1 GP Overall
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM 50
2 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki 42
3 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha 40
4 Leok, Tanel EST Honda 36
5 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM 33
6 de Dycker, Ken BEL Yamaha 29
7 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS Honda 28
8 Albertson, Jimmy USA Honda 26
9 Guarneri, Davide ITA Honda 24
10 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Honda 20
11 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Suzuki 16
12 Boog, Xavier FRA Kawasaki 16
13 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha 15
14 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki 13
15 Coppins, Joshua NZL Aprilia 12

MX1 World championship standings:
1 Cairoli, A. ITA 138
2 Nagl, M. GER 120
3 Ramon, Steve BEL 101
4 Philippaerts, D. ITA 100
5 de Dycker, Ken BEL 94
6 Desalle, C. BEL 79
7 Boog, Xavier FRA 70
8 Leok, Tanel EST 66
9 Barragan, J. ESP 56
10 Guarneri, D. ITA 56
11 Albertson, J. USA 55
12 Bobryshev, E. RUS 53
13 Swanepoel, G. RSA 51
14 Pourcel, S. FRA 50
15 Coppins, J. NZL 49