Date: 31 May 2010

This past weekend Gareth Swanepoel joined the MX1 GP regulars in sunny California as round 6th of the World Championship headed to Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, USA.

Heavy winds delayed proceedings on Saturday morning meaning all riders would get only 1 timed practice in on the circuit. ‘Swanie’ soon found his rhythm though once things got going, and he raced to 11th place in the qualifying race.

With a solid start to the weekend Swanepoel was looking forward to the main racing on Sunday, but a poor start in moto 1 left the South African down in the pack on the opening laps. Racing with his trademark smooth style ‘Swanie’ pushed forward to 14th position by the end of the grueling race.

A better start in moto 2 put the CAS Honda rider in 13th position as the riders rounded lap 1 of the long circuit, but just 3 laps in ‘Swanie’ caught his ankle in a deep rut and twisted it badly. In a lot of pain ‘Swanie’ was unable to continue racing and retired from the race.

“ The first moto was okay; I did not get the best of starts but once I got my rhythm I worked my way up and thirteenth, which was alright, but nothing special. I was hoping for more from the second race, and got a reasonable start but the track had gotten quite rough and there were a few deep ruts out there. I just caught my foot in one after making a small mistake and tweaked my ankle. At the time I could not put any weight on my foot and had to stop. I went to see the medical team and they said it was okay so I should hopefully just need a couple of days rest.” Commented Swanepoel.

Image CDS

Results

Moto 1
1 CAIROLI, Antonio
2 ALESSI, Mike
3 NAGL, Maximilian
4 DE DYCKER, Ken
5 DESALLE, Clement
6 BOOG, Xavier
7 RAMON, Steve
8 GUARNERI, Davide
9 LANGSTON, Grant
10 CHISOLM, Kyle
11 PHILIPPAERTS, David
12 BOBRYSHEV, Evgeny
13 STRIJBOS, Kevin
14 SWANEPOEL, Gareth

Moto 2

1 TOWNLEY, Ben
2 DESALLE, Clement
3 CAIROLI, Antonio
4 ALESSI, Mike
5 BOOG, Xavier
6 RAMON, Steve
7 GUARNERI, Davide
8 BOISSIERE, Anthony
9 COPPINS, Joshua
10 DE DYCKER, Ken

GP Overall

1 CAIROLI, Antonio 25 20 45
2 ALESSI, Mike 22 18 40
3 DESALLE, Clement 16 22 38
4 BOOG, Xavier 15 16 31
5 RAMON, Steve 14 15 29
6 DE DYCKER, Ken 18 11 29
7 GUARNERI, Davide 13 14 27
8 TOWNLEY, Ben - 25 25
9 CHISOLM, Kyle 11 9 20
10 NAGL, Maximilian 20 - 20
11 STRIJBOS, Kevin 8 8 16
12 GONCALVES, Rui 5 10 15
13 BOISSIERE, Anthony - 13 13
14 AUBIN, Nicolas 6 7 13
15 PHILIPPAERTS, David 10 3 13
20 SWANEPOEL, Gareth 7 - 7

World Championship Standings


1 CAIROLI, Antonio 259
2 NAGL, Maximilian 218
3 DESALLE, Clement 196
4 PHILIPPAERTS, David 184
5 DE DYCKER, Ken 174
6 RAMON, Steve 173
7 BOOG, Xavier 167
8 LEOK, Tanel 135
9 BOBRYSHEV, Evgeny 115
10 GUARNERI, Davide 111
11 COPPINS, Joshua 90
12 STRIJBOS, Kevin 86
13 POURCEL, Sebastien 75
14 BOISSIERE, Anthony 75
15 SWANEPOEL, Gareth 74