Date: 09 August 2010

Gareth Swanepoel was on great form this past weekend during the GP of Loket in the Czech Republic, and although a mechanical failure robbed him of 6th place in the 2nd moto, he clearly demonstrated his ability to run top 10, and more, in the closely contested MX1 class.

Constant rain leading up to the GP left the Loket circuit very wet, but luckily the rain stopped on Saturday evening and the show could go on.

In the opening moto ‘Swanie’ was running mid pack on the opening laps, but once everyone settled into a rhythm he was able to start his move forwards. Making constant progress throughout the race Swanepoel stayed strong to the end finishing in 12th position.

In the second moto ‘Swanie’ grabbed great start, running in 5th position. On lap 9 a hard charging Nagl eventually managed to squeeze past, but Swanepoel kept his focus and was racing a solid 6th until, with just a handful of laps remaining, a technical failure left the number 8 machine sidelined!

‘ Swanie’ gave his comments: In the opening moto I was a little too cautious on the opening laps and guys got past leaving me with even more work to do. In the second race I had a good start and then just pushed as hard as possible in the opening laps, and this really made all the difference for me. Once the guys then settled in I could comfortably keep the pace for the rest of the race. I think it was about 30 minutes into the race the bike stopped and I was gutted, but at the same time happy in myself because I felt I had ridden like I can. With the decent result in Lommel and riding well this weekend I hope to continue on this form.”
The next round of the MX1 World Championship is on the 22nd August in Brazil.

Results

MX1 Race 1
1 Leok, Tanel EST Honda
2 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM
3 Desalle, Clement BEL Suzuki
4 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha
5 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM
6 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki
7 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki
8 Aubin, Nicolas FRA Kawasaki
9 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS Honda
10 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM
11 de Dycker, Ken BEL Yamaha
12 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Honda
13 Coppins, Joshua NZL Aprilia
14 Barragan, Jonathan ESP Kawasaki
15 Soubeyras, Cedric FRA KTM

MX1 Race 2
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM
2 Desalle, Clement BEL Suzuki
3 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki
4 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM
5 Leok, Tanel EST Honda
6 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Suzuki
7 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS Honda
8 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM
9 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha
10 Coppins, Joshua NZL Aprilia
11 Church, Tom GBR CCM
12 Bill, Julien SUI KTM
13 Albertson, Jimmy USA Honda
14 Walkner, Matthias AUT KTM
15 Bonini, Matteo ITA Yamaha

Mx1 GP Overall:
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA KTM 47
2 Desalle, Clement BEL Suzuki 42
3 Leok, Tanel EST Honda 41
4 Ramon, Steve BEL Suzuki 35
5 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM 34
6 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha 30
7 Bobryshev, Evgeny RUS Honda 26
8 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM 24
9 Strijbos, Kevin BEL Suzuki 20
10 Coppins, Joshua NZL Aprilia 19
11 Church, Tom GBR CCM 14
12 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki 14
13 Aubin, Nicolas FRA Kawasaki 13
14 de Dycker, Ken BEL Yamaha 10
15 Bill, Julien SUI KTM 9
17 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Honda 9

MX1 World Championship standings:
1 Cairoli, A. ITA 531
2 Desalle, C. BEL 447
3 Philippaerts, D. ITA 394
4 Nagl, M. GER 382
5 Ramon, Steve BEL 376
6 de Dycker, Ken BEL 309
7 Leok, Tanel EST 290
8 Boog, Xavier FRA 276
9 Bobryshev, E. RUS 270
10 Guarneri, D. ITA 213
11 Strijbos, K. BEL 201
12 Coppins, J. NZL 184
13 Swanepoel, G. RSA 182
14 Goncalves, Rui POR 177
15 Boissiere, A. FRA 145