Date: 19 August 2007.

The newly built Moneyglass circuit, close to Belfast, has withstood a fair amount of rain to make for some exciting racing at the 13 round of the FIM Motocross world championships. Molson Kawasaki’s Gareth Swanepoel, missed his opportunity to climb onto the podium when he landed hard off a double jump, wrenching his right wrist in the opening stages of moto 1. Swanepoel went straight to the medical unit fearing that he had aggravated a previous scaephoid injury however x-rays should that no bone damage was visible and Swanepoel was cleared to start the second moto.

After having his wrist strapped the South Acrican found himself at the front of the pack with a good start in the second moto. First Battling with Rui Goncalves and then Tommy Searle, ‘Swanie’ could not keep up the pace with the huge Moneyglass jumps jolting his wrist so he settled into a rhythm to finish 6, making a last minute effort to pass Frenchman, Jeremy Tarroux on the last lap but to no avail.

“I missed out on a good podium opportunity this weekend” admitted Swanepoel “The track caught a lot of riders out and got me in the first moto. I landed hard off a big jump and jolted my wrist. I was pumped with my start in the second moto but just couldn’t hold onto the bike properly. I’ll get it checked out this week but it should be good for the Donnington next weekend. I can still realistically move up two spots in the championship tables”.

The penultimate round of the 15 round series moves to the UK for Donnington park, the home GP for the Molson Kawasaki team.

MX2 Race 1
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha
2 Searle, Tommy GBR KTM
3 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM
4 Paulin, Gautier FRA Honda
5 Aubin, Nicolas FRA Yamaha
6 Guarneri, Davide ITA Yamaha
7 Nunn, Carl GBR Yamaha
8 Schiffer, Marcus GER KTM
9 van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL KTM
10 Boog, Xavier FRA Yamaha
11 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha
12 Tarroux, Jeremy FRA KTM
13 Campano, Carlos ESP Yamaha
14 Terreblanche, Shannon RSA Suzuki
15 Bonini, Matteo ITA Yamaha
DNF Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki

MX2 Race 2
1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha
2 Searle, Tommy GBR KTM
3 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM
4 Schiffer, Marcus GER KTM
5 Tarroux, Jeremy FRA KTM
6 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki
7 van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL KTM
8 Hamblin, Sean USA Suzuki
9 Church, Tom GBR Kawasaki
10 Guarneri, Davide ITA Yamaha
11 Campano, Carlos ESP Yamaha
12 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha
13 Bonini, Matteo ITA Yamaha
14 Barr, Martin GBR Yamaha
15 Vongsana, Khounsith FRA KTM

MX2 World championship standings:

1 Cairoli, A. ITA 610
2 Pourcel, C. FRA 436
3 Searle, Tommy GBR 431
4 Rattray, Tyla RSA 371
5 Leuret, Pascal FRA 320
6 Swanepoel, G. RSA 301
7 Aubin, Nicolas FRA 288
8 Schiffer, M. GER 235
9 Seistola, M. FIN 233
10 Guarneri, D. ITA 218
11 Gundersen, K. NOR 213
12 Goncalves, Rui POR 196
13 Boissiere, A. FRA 177
14 Boog, Xavier FRA 174
15 Nunn, Carl GBR 165