Swanepoel finishes on a high

Gareth Swanepoel finished up his
final AMA race of 2010 with another positive showing at Pala Raceway in
SoCal this past Saturday. Although his overall result on the day was
hampered by a DNF in moto 1, from someone landing on him, a good second
moto left ‘Swanie’ on a high.

Once again Swanepoel was very fast
during the timed qualifying sessions, and posted the 8^th fastest
overall time, the fastest Yamaha rider on track.

In the mayhem of the opening laps
within moto one, Swanepoel was landed on by another rider, damaging his
machine and putting an early end to his race. Although a little battered
and bruised ‘Swanie’ was lucky to walk away with no serious
injuries, and prepared himself for moto number two.

The second moto was a clean start
for Swanepoel, who railed his Star Racing Yamaha around the opening lap
inside the top 10. As ‘Swanie’ settled into a rhythm he was
able to pick his way into 7^th position, whilst defending hard
against a close challenging Will Hahn. On the final lap a back-marker moved
into the line of Swanepoel, on the same jump that ended his opening moto,
and Swanepoel was forced to jump short, whilst Hahn was able to clear the
jump and got passed. In the closing corners Swanepoel tried everywhere to
push back past, but in the end had to settle for
8^th.

Gareth Swanepoel: “I would
just like to thank Bobby Regan and everyone involved with the DNA Shred
Stix Star Racing Yamaha Team for making it possible for me to race these
last three rounds of the AMA series, I have really enjoyed the experience.
I head back home to Belgium now where I need to review options for next
season and hope to be able to finalize a deal soon.”