Date: 27 August '06

lMolson Kawasaki’s Gareth Swanepoel has lead the team to another top ten result, this time at the ‘Porters Pit’ circuit in Desert Martin, Ireland.

Swanepoel placed 5th in Saturday’s qualifying race despite contracting a bout of flu prior to the event. The South African tried his best in moto 1 under the circumstances and was making good progress in the first half of the race. He made his way past Kenneth Gundersen and Carl Nunn and seemed to have 6th place wrapped up when he started to tire towards the end of the race and was caught and relegated to ninth.

Matters were made more difficult in the second moto when Swanepoel had to fight his way from 12th position on the opening lap. ‘Swanie’ had to dig deep and found some extra energy has he carved his way through the field. He hunted down and passed Sebastien Pourcel for 5th spot and then went after brother Christophe. He hit rock bottom with two laps to go but was content to hold onto 6th spot for two consistent top ten results.

“It’s been a really tough weekend for me. I came down with flu symptoms on Friday and my body and ears have been aching the whole weekend. I did the best I could but just didn’t have the energy to finish off the job and that cost me a few places – 8th overall was not too bad. On the other hand I have moved up in the championship to 9th and it’s still possible to gain a few more positions. There are still two rounds to go so anything can happen. I’m going to head back to Belgium and try and recover for Lierop next week. I will need every bit of energy in the sand but I know that the bike is working really well and I have trained hard in the sand so it should be good.” explained Swanepoel.

The Penultimate round of the FIM World championship series will take place at the infamous Lierop circuit next weekend in the Netherlands.

Race results:

MX2 Race 1
1 Rattray, Tyla RSA KTM
2 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha
3 Pourcel, Christophe FRA Kawasaki
4 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM
5 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki
6 Gundersen, Kenneth NOR Yamaha
7 Philippaerts, David ITA KTM
8 de Reuver, Marc NED KTM
9 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki
10 Leok, Aigar EST Yamaha
11 Searle, Tommy GBR Kawasaki
12 Monni, Manuel ITA KTM
13 Nunn, Carl GBR KTM
14 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM
15 Seistola, Matti FIN Honda

MX2 Race 2
1 Rattray, Tyla RSA KTM
2 de Reuver, Marc NED KTM
3 Philippaerts, David ITA KTM
4 Pourcel, Christophe FRA Kawasaki
5 Pourcel, Sebastien FRA Kawasaki
6 Swanepoel, Garreth RSA Kawasaki
7 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha
8 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM
9 Mackenzie, Billy GBR Yamaha
10 Schiffer, Marcus GER KTM
11 Leok, Aigar EST Yamaha
12 Kohut, Martin SVK Honda
13 Seistola, Matti FIN Honda
14 Monni, Manuel ITA KTM
15 Boog, Xavier FRA Yamaha

MX2 World championship standings:
1 Pourcel, C. FRA 496
2 Cairoli, A. ITA 468
3 Philippaerts, D. ITA 427
4 Rattray, Tyla RSA 402
5 de Reuver, M. NED 373
6 Nunn, Carl GBR 315
7 Pourcel, S. FRA 291
8 Mackenzie, B. GBR 281
9 Swanepoel, G. RSA 278
10 Goncalves, Rui POR 267
11 Searle, Tommy GBR 264
12 Gundersen, K. NOR 215
13 Chiodi, A. ITA 211
14 Monni, Manuel ITA 183
15 Guarneri, D. ITA 153