Date: 4 May 2009

Gareth Swanepoel travelled to the UK this past weekend for Round 3 of the 8 round British Motocross Championships which took place at Brampton in Cambidgeshire.

Sunday morning started well for ‘Swanie’ as he posted consistently quick laps in qualifying, ending up with the 4th fastest time.

In Moto 1 the Factory Kawasaki rider took off out the gate, only narrowly missing out on the hole-shot as he maneuvered his way through the first corner. Closing up lap 1 in 3rd position Swanepoel looked good for a possible win as he aligned the front 2 riders in his sights. Making a mistake on lap 3 Gareth ran into the fencing and lost a few positions as he dropped down into 5th position. Quickly regaining his momentum ‘Swanie’ soon got back on the pace and set about chasing down the leaders. At the finish flag it was a second position for Gareth Swanepoel, having closed the gap on the leader to a mere 6 and a half seconds.

Moto 2 start unfortunately was not a repeat of the first as Gareth found himself mid pack in the first corner action. Rounding up lap 1 in 9th position it was clear Gareth would have to push hard to get through the pack of MX1 riders on this rough circuit. As expected the GP contender soon made the passes getting up to 5th position before a hard fall landing off a jump put end to his hunt for a top 3 position. Taking some time to get the bike fired up Swanepoel had little chance to gain positions as he ended the race with a 12th position.

Catching ‘Swanie’ after all was done, he had this to say: “Despite the result in moto 2 I am actually fairly pumped with my riding at the moment. In the first moto I only just missed out on the win, and without a silly mistake that would have happened. Then moto 2 I just took too long to get passed the guys and kept getting held up. I lost it on a hard landing off a tabletop and went down hard putting end to my chase in the last 4 laps. The bike is amazing and I am starting to feel very confident on the 450 now, I really look forward to the GP next week in Portugal.”

Results
Moto 1
1 Brad Anderson
2 Gareth Swanepoel
3 James Noble
4 Jason Dougan
5 Carl Nunn
6 Scott Columb
7 Kristian Whatley
8 Zach Osbourne
9 Mark Jones
10 Billy MacKenzie
Moto 2

1 Brad Anderson
2 James Noble
3 Billy MacKenzie
4 Jason Dougan
5 Scott Columb
6 Bryan MacKenzie
7 Mark Jones
8 Zach Osbourne
9 Tom Church
10 Dorren Coutts
11 Kristian Whatley
12 Gareth Swanepoel

Overall for the day
1 Brad Anderson
2 James Noble
3 Jason Dougan
4 Billy MacKenzie
5 Scott Columb
6 Gareth Swanepoel
7 Mark Jones
8 Zach Osbourne
9 Bryan MacKenzie
10 Kristian Whatley

British MX1 Championship standings after Round 3
1 Brad Anderson 131
2 James Noble 106
3 Carl Nunn 91
4 Billy MacKenzie 89
5 Gareth Swanepoel 75
6 Tom Church 74
7 Scott Columb 74
8 Zach Osbourne 66
9 Kristian Whatley 59
10 Jason Dougan 58