Date: 7 September 2008

In only his second Motocross GP back from injury, Molson Kawasaki’s, Gareth Swanepoel has scored two strong and consistent results at the penultimate round of the FIM MX World championship in Lierop. The South African’s determination saw him post a 10-9 score in mixed weather conditions and in front of 35.000 enthusiastic Dutch spectators to place 10th overall for the GP.

After the excitement of recently inking a deal to ride in the factory Kawasaki MX1 squad for 2009, Swanepoel wanted to prove his worth in the backbreaking sand. He grabbed a reasonably good start in moto 1 and stayed out of trouble to emerge out of the Lierop forest in 11th spot but lost another place a lap later. ‘Swanie’ settled into a steady race rhythm and managed to claim back two positions to finish tenth at the end of a grueling 40 minutes.

The second moto would be a true test of fitness and determination for Swanepoel. He had a cracking start and seemed to be in with a hole-shot chance but got pushed wide in the first turn. As spectators anxiously waited for the pack to enter the arena, Swanepoel appeared in 7th. He kept his head down and only relinquished two positions to finish 9th by the end of the moto.

“I have good memories at this track and I have been focusing a lot on the sand lately so I’m pretty pleased with my result this weekend,” commented Swanepoel. “Coming back from such a long lay off is not easy especially in these rough and gnarly conditions so I am pumped to have scored two consistent results. No matter how hard you train the only way to know where your fitness is at, is to race, and although I expected to do better I am happy with my performance.”

The final and 3rd consecutive GP in a row will be held in Italy at the spectacular Faenza circuit next weekend. The Italian MX GP will see the crowning of both the MX1 and MX2 world champion and will be Swanepoel’s last appearance in the MX2 GP class as the South African makes the move to MX1 for 2009.

IRace results:

MX2 Race 1
1 Rattray, Tyla RSA KTM
2 Searle, Tommy GBR KTM
3 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM
4 Aubin, Nicolas FRA Yamaha
5 Roelants, Joel BEL KTM
6 Simpson, Shaun GBR KTM
7 Boog, Xavier FRA Suzuki
8 van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL KTM
9 Karro, Matiss LAT Honda
10 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki
11 Bobryshev, Evgeniy RUS Yamaha
12 Krestinov, Gert EST KTM
13 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha
14 Seistola, Matti FIN Honda
15 Sword, Stephen GBR Kawasaki

MX2 Race 2
1 Rattray, Tyla RSA KTM
2 Searle, Tommy GBR KTM
3 Aubin, Nicolas FRA Yamaha
4 Goncalves, Rui POR KTM
5 Krestinov, Gert EST KTM
6 Simpson, Shaun GBR KTM
7 Bobryshev, Evgeniy RUS Yamaha
8 Karro, Matiss LAT Honda
9 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki
10 van Horebeek, Jeremy BEL KTM
11 Guarneri, Davide ITA Yamaha
12 Seistola, Matti FIN Honda
13 Sword, Stephen GBR Kawasaki
14 van Vijfeijken, Rob NED Yamaha
15 Monni, Manuel ITA Yamaha

MX2 Championship standings:
1 Rattray, Tyla RSA 596
2 Searle, Tommy GBR 563
3 Aubin, Nicolas FRA 381
4 Simpson, Shaun GBR 367
5 Goncalves, Rui POR 365
6 Cairoli, A. ITA 357
7 Frossard, S. FRA 289
8 Boog, Xavier FRA 283
9 van Horebeek, J. BEL 277
10 Monni, Manuel ITA 259
11 Sword, Stephen GBR 257
12 Boissiere, A. FRA 243
13 Guarneri, D. ITA 181
14 Roelants, Joel BEL 181
15 Musquin, M. FRA 180
33 Swanepoel, G. RSA 23