Swanepoel Earns a Top 8 in Portuguese GP

Ever determined, Gareth Swanepoel along with the Kawasaki Factory team traveled to Agueda in Portugal this weekend in order to take part in Round 5 of the closely contested MX1 Motocross World Championship. With team mate Sebastian Pourcel out with injury all eyes were on ‘Swanie’ to fly the flag for Kawasaki under blue Portuguese skies.

Starting the weekend with confidence Swanepoel showed great speed and consistency in the 20 min and 2 lap qualifying race onboard his KX450F-SR. He qualified a personal best 9th position in the fiercely competitive MX1 class.

Moving on to the Sunday race program as the gate dropped for heat Swanepoel got great drive out the blocks, hammering his ‘green machine’ towards the first corner. Running slightly wide on the loose dirt the re-charged South African emerged in 12th position and was on the gas. Turning out fast laps ‘Swanie’ was eager to push for a top 10 and it showed as he fought for position lap after lap. Riding a very smooth but hurried pace throughout the entire race Gareth was able to bring it home in 10th position, racking up vital World Championship points.

With his strong form in heat 1 Gareth was driven to improve even further in heat 2, and that is exactly what he did. Getting another top 12 out the first turn, ‘Swanie’ dug deep and pushed even harder to get in some fast lap times. Running almost the same lap times as the top 5 placed riders for the entire race Swanepoel was able to pull all the way up to another personal best of 8th position, crossing the finish line with a huge smile on his face, and an 8th position overall for the day.

“The whole weekend was good for me,” smiled the South African. “Yesterday I was 9th in qualifying and I knew then that I could get good results today. I feel faster every time I ride the 450 and today I just pushed as hard as possible to go fast every lap. This week I I’ll be doing some more speed work in preparation for Spain next week.”

Swanepoel has climbed to 13th in the MX1 standings and has his sights set on improving further on his World championship position next week in Spain at round 6 of the series.

www.swanie.co.za

Race results:

MX1 Race 1

1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha

2 de Dycker, Ken BEL Suzuki

3 Desalle, Clement BEL Honda

4 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM

5 Philippaerts, David ITA Yamaha

6 Leok, Tanel EST Yamaha

7 Coppins, Joshua NZL Yamaha

8 Barragan, Jonathan ESP KTM

9 Aranda, Gregory FRA Kawasaki

10 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki

11 Vuillemin, David FRA Kawasaki

12 Leok, Aigar EST TM

13 Priem, Manuel BEL Aprilia

14 Izoird, Fabien FRA Suzuki

15 Church, Tom GBR CCM

MX1 Race 2

1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha

2 de Dycker, Ken BEL Suzuki

3 Desalle, Clement BEL Honda

4 Coppins, Joshua NZL Yamaha

5 Leok, Tanel EST Yamaha

6 Vuillemin, David FRA Kawasaki

7 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM

8 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki

9 Aranda, Gregory FRA Kawasaki

10 Barragan, Jonathan ESP KTM

11 Leok, Aigar EST TM

12 Campano, Carlos ESP Yamaha

13 Priem, Manuel BEL Aprilia

14 Correira, Luis POR Yamaha

15 Izoird, Fabien FRA Suzuki

MX1 GP Overall

1 Cairoli, Antonio ITA Yamaha 50

2 de Dycker, Ken BEL Suzuki 44

3 Desalle, Clement BEL Honda 40

4 Coppins, Joshua NZL Yamaha 32

5 Nagl, Maximilian GER KTM 32

6 Leok, Tanel EST Yamaha 31

7 Vuillemin, David FRA Kawasaki 25

8 Swanepoel, Gareth RSA Kawasaki 24

9 Aranda, Gregory FRA Kawasaki 24

10 Barragan, Jonathan ESP KTM 24

MX1 Championship standings:

1 Cairoli, A. ITA 193

2 de Dycker, Ken BEL 168

3 Barragan, J. ESP 152

4 Coppins, J. NZL 144

5 Leok, Tanel EST 142

6 Philippaerts, D. ITA 134

7 Desalle, C. BEL 126

8 Nagl, M. GER 119

9 Ramon, Steve BEL 100

10 Strijbos, K. BEL 82

11 Vuillemin, D. FRA 73

12 Leok, Aigar EST 67

13 Swanepoel, G. RSA 67

14 de Reuver, M. NED 45

15 Mackenzie, B. GBR 42