Date: 5 August 2007

The historic Citadel circuit of Namur has played host to the 12th Round of the FIM MX World championship under clear blue Belgian skies. Molson Kawasaki’s Gareth Swanepoel, posted two strong performances to maintain his 6th position in the world championship standings.

Swanepoel’s first moto was marred by a first turn crash when he was unable to avoid a fallen Antonio Cairoli. Swanepoel remounted but went down again before he could complete lap one. Determined not to give up, the 22-year-old fought his way back into the points posting his fastest time of the race on the penultimate lap on a challenging Namur circuit to finish 15th.

Managing to stay out of trouble in the second MX2 race, ‘Swanie’ was mid pack after the first turn which left him a hard task ahead. He kept his head down and plugged away at consistent lap times which moved him through the field. With one lap to go Swanepoel put in a last minute charge to relegate Frenchman, Xavier Boog, crossing the finish line in 6th spot.

“I was a bit unlucky in the first moto and went down twice on the first lap, once in the start and again at the bottom section of the track. I was way back and had to put in some good laps and concentrate on my speed. The track was watered in the second moto so it was really difficult to pass. My start wasn’t too good so I had to be patient and again work on speed. I tried to improve each lap and go faster on each section of the track. I hardly even looked at my pit board and was surprised at the end when Mike, my mechanic, showed me I had finished 6th.” explained Swanepoel.

With a week’s gap in the world championship calendar, Swanepoel will prepare for the following round on the 18-19 of August to be held in Moneyglass Demense, close to Belfast.

Race results:

MX2 Race 1
1 Searle, Tommy GBR KTM
2 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM
3 Schiffer, Marcus GER KTM
4 Guarneri, Davide ITA Yamaha
5 Gundersen, Kenneth NOR Yamaha
6 Seistola, Matti FIN Honda
7 Boog, Xavier FRA Yamaha
8 van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL KTM
9 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha
10 Bonini, Matteo ITA Yamaha
11 Aubin, Nicolas FRA Yamaha
12 Roelants, Joel BEL KTM
13 Tarroux, Jeremy FRA KTM
14 Hamblin, Sean USA Suzuki
15 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki

MX2 Race 2
1 Pourcel, Christophe FRA Kawasaki
2 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha
3 Guarneri, Davide ITA Yamaha
4 van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL KTM
5 Seistola, Matti FIN Honda
6 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki
7 Boog, Xavier FRA Yamaha
8 Schiffer, Marcus GER KTM
9 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM
10 Searle, Tommy GBR KTM
11 Bonini, Matteo ITA Yamaha
12 Paulin, Gautier FRA Honda
13 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha
14 Tarroux, Jeremy FRA KTM
15 Church, Tom GBR Kawasaki

MX2 World championship standings:
1 Cairoli, A. ITA 560
2 Pourcel, C. FRA 436
3 Searle, Tommy GBR 387
4 Rattray, Tyla RSA 371
5 Leuret, Pascal FRA 320
6 Swanepoel, G. RSA 286
7 Aubin, Nicolas FRA 272
8 Seistola, M. FIN 231
9 Gundersen, K. NOR 213
10 Schiffer, M. GER 204
11 Guarneri, D. ITA 192
12 Boissiere, A. FRA 177
13 Boog, Xavier FRA 163
14 Goncalves, Rui POR 156
15 Nunn, Carl GBR 146