A bad start had Swanepoel fighting his way through the pack on an almost impossible to pass, rutted and one-lined circuit. 18th place was the best he could do after a small crash made the task of a top-ten finish virtually impossible. A better jump in race two had Swanepoel in the top ten but moments later a wrong choice of line cost the 22-year-old dearly as he once again found himself having to come from the back of the pack. The South African made great headway as he picked off riders one by one and was carrying enough speed to move into the top ten when Frenchman, Jeremy Tarroux took a tumble after the uphill, step-up obstacle and took Swanepoel down with him. With all the hard work and positions lost, Swanepoel once again finished 18th and salvaged three championship points. “Spain just doesn’t seem to be good to me,” said Swanepoel. “The track was quite tough but is was my starts that let me down. The lap times were good but coming from behind in these conditions is nearly impossible. This GP has been a setback for me, but I’m not going to change my preparations because of it. I need to carry on working hard and obviously I’ll be focusing on my weaknesses before Portugal.” As the GP teams trek across Spain to Portugal, Swanepoel flies back to Belgium for a few days of training before heading to Agueda for the third of 15 rounds in the MX2 championship series.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
MX2 WorldGP - Gareth Swanepoel battles in Spanish mud
A bad start had Swanepoel fighting his way through the pack on an almost impossible to pass, rutted and one-lined circuit. 18th place was the best he could do after a small crash made the task of a top-ten finish virtually impossible. A better jump in race two had Swanepoel in the top ten but moments later a wrong choice of line cost the 22-year-old dearly as he once again found himself having to come from the back of the pack. The South African made great headway as he picked off riders one by one and was carrying enough speed to move into the top ten when Frenchman, Jeremy Tarroux took a tumble after the uphill, step-up obstacle and took Swanepoel down with him. With all the hard work and positions lost, Swanepoel once again finished 18th and salvaged three championship points. “Spain just doesn’t seem to be good to me,” said Swanepoel. “The track was quite tough but is was my starts that let me down. The lap times were good but coming from behind in these conditions is nearly impossible. This GP has been a setback for me, but I’m not going to change my preparations because of it. I need to carry on working hard and obviously I’ll be focusing on my weaknesses before Portugal.” As the GP teams trek across Spain to Portugal, Swanepoel flies back to Belgium for a few days of training before heading to Agueda for the third of 15 rounds in the MX2 championship series.
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