Date: 17 August 2009

The 9th Round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship has seen South African MX GP racer, Gareth Swanepoel, put together two impressive and consistent results at the Unadilla Sports Center in Berlin, New York over the weekend.

Having flown into New York from his Belgian base late Wednesday afternoon, Swanepoel only had Thursday to acclimatize, ride and set up his the Monster Energy Kawasaki before heading into Saturday’s compact race program.

With excellent weather and track conditions suiting the 24-year-old, ‘Swanie’ quickly showed promising speed and looked set for a positive result as he lined up for moto one. Grabbing a good start, Swanepoel rounded up the opening lap in 7th spot in front of Andrew Short. It took the American almost four laps to get round the South African with Swanepoel then giving chase to Ivan Tedesco. By the end of the 30minute + 2 lap race Swanepoel crossed the finish line in 7th holding off Justin Brayton.

Another top ten start would see Swanepoel move into 6th spot as he tried to fend off Tommy Hahn and Kyle Regal. Some minor mistakes lost Swanepoel two positions as he gave chase to Regal with Ivan Tedesco slipping down the field as Swanepoel wasted no time in capitalizing on the American’s mistake. Hahn would have to pull into pit-lane later in the moto, handing Swanepoel 6th spot which he kept till the chequered flag after keeping fellow Monster Energy Kawasaki team-mate, Tim Ferry, at bay.

“ It’s been a great experience and I would like to thank Monster Energy Kawasaki for giving me this opportunity. Mike Fisher and his team did everything to help make me feel comfortable on the bike and they all gave me valuable advice during the day. I was happy with my speed although I made some little mistakes during the motos which cost me a few spots. I also want to thank the Spinella family for letting us use their track to dial in the bike.” commented Swanepoel.

‘ Swanie’ returns to Europe for the penultimate round of the British championship where he is currently second in the point standings. A week later he will take part in round 14 of the 15 round FIM MX World championship at the infamous sand circuit of Lierop, having narrowly missed out on the overall victory to Antonio Cairoli in 2007 in the MX2 class.

Race results:
1.Chad Reed, Australia, Suzuki (1-1)
2. Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, Honda (5-2)
3. Michael Byrne, Australia, Suzuki (4-3)
4. Justin Brayton, Murrieta, Calif., KTM (8-4)
5. Davi Millsaps, Murrieta, Calif., Honda (3-11)
6. Gareth Swanepoel, South Africa, Kawasaki (7-6)
7. Ivan Tedesco, Tallahassee, Fla., Honda (6-8)
8. Kyle Regal, Kemp, Texas, Yamaha (10-5)
9. Tommy Hahn, Decatur, Texas, Kawasaki (2-16)
10. Timmy Ferry, Largo, Fla., Kawasaki (11-7)