Date: 26 April 2009
This weekend Gareth Swanepoel had the luxury of only having to travel 30 minutes up the road to the 4th round of the Motocross World Championship, which took place at the relentless sand circuit of Valkenswaard just over the border in Holland. Arriving at the Factory Kawasaki tent on Friday morning Gareth was optimistic for the weekend ahead as he is getting more and more accustomed to the super powerful KX450F-SR, and is also a natural sand rider.

In the Saturday morning qualifying race it all started well for ‘Swanie’ as his Kawasaki could be seen flying through turn one in the leading pack. At the end of the opening lap Gareth was up in 10th position fighting hard with all the stars in the MX1 class. Lap after lap the pace was there as he defended his top ten position. With a handful of laps to go it started to look bleak though as one by one the opposition started to slip by. By the end of what was a short 20 minute and 2 lap qualifying race the dejected Kawasaki rider crossed the finish line in 18th position.

On Sunday morning the first MX1 heat got underway and pushing hard through the first corners Gareth went down as the rest of the pack disappeared down the bumpy circuit. Re-mounting quickly the bruised South African took charge and before long was starting to climb his way up the score sheets. By lap 4, Gareth was making a move for 21st position as another rider crashed right in front of him and in a split second Gareth Swanepoel found himself laying on the ground once again. With his bike caught up in the other riders bike a huge amount of time was lost and any chance of result in heat 1 was out the window. In the remaining time Gareth managed to claw his way back to 24th position before the end of a disappointing race for both himself and the team.

Heat 2 blasted off, but once again lady luck was just not there as Gareth hit the floor on lap one whilst up in the leading pack. Rounding out lap 1 down in 24th position it was hard to imagine anyone being able to get back through this pack of MX1 GP riders, not only that but it was clear that the front brake lever had been ripped off during the crash leaving only a rear brake to slow the bike with. With an amazing amount of fight within, Swanepoel put on a gallant ride as he cut through the pack getting himself all the way up to 12th position by the end of a grueling 35 minute and 2 lap race.

“ That was another real hard weekend, in the second race I had no front brake after the crash. Luckily in the deep sand it is not hard braking into the corners, but it was still hard to try ride without it. I do not feel 100% healthy and it is frustrating because the bike is just so good I just wish I could have done it justice today.” Said Swanepoel.

The 3rd round of the British MX championship will see Swanie travel to Brampton next weekend before heading to Portugal and Spain for back to back GP's therafter.

Results:
MX1 Race1
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA
2 de Reuver, Marc NED
3 Barragan, Jonathan ESP
4 de Dycker, Ken BEL
5 Leok, Tanel EST
6 Philippaerts, David ITA
7 Strijbos, Kevin BEL
8 Mackenzie, Billy GBR
9 Desalle, Clement BEL
10 Coppins, Joshua NZL
24 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA

MX1 Race 2
1 Barragan, Jonathan ESP
2 Leok, Tanel EST
3 Cairoli, Antonio ITA
4 Strijbos, Kevin BEL
5 Coppins, Joshua NZL
6 Philippaerts, David ITA
7 Ramon, Steve BEL
8 Desalle, Clement BEL
9 de Dycker, Ken BEL
10 Leok, Aigar EST
12 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA

MX1 GP Overall:
1 Barragan, Jonathan ESP
2 Cairoli, Antonio ITA
3 Leok, Tanel EST
4 Strijbos, Kevin BEL
5 Philippaerts, David ITA
16 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA

MX1 World championship standings:
1 Cairoli, A. ITA 143
2 Barragan, J. ESP 128
3 de Dycker, Ken BEL 124
4 Philippaerts, D. ITA 118
5 Coppins, J. NZL 112
6 Leok, Tanel EST 111
7 Ramon, Steve BEL 100
8 Nagl, M. GER 87
9 Desalle, C. BEL 86
10 Strijbos, K. BEL 82
11 Leok, Aigar EST 48
12 Vuillemin, D. FRA 48
13 de Reuver, M. NED 45
14 Swanepoel, G. RSA 43
15 Mackenzie, B. GBR 42