South African MX2 world championship protagonist, Gareth Swanepoel, has ridden to strong result and a second moto podium at round 4 of the FIM MX World championships in Mantova, Italy. The Molson Kawasaki star ran a fierce Saturday qualifying race with second place to show for his efforts. ‘Swanie’ was determined to carry through the positive result for Sunday’s 2 x 35 minute motos however a bad start in moto 1 left the 22-year-old with lots of work to do as he had to fight from outside the top ten. 6th place was the reward at the end of the race.
A better start and a clever first turn manoeuvre saw ‘Swanie’ rocket his KX250F into third position behind championship rivals Antonio Cairoli and Christophe Pourcel. The Frenchman went missing on lap four with fellow South African, Tyla Rattray managing to edge past Swanepoel. Consistent lap times and a good fitness level saw Swanepoel finish 3 seconds adrift of his compatriot to claim his second moto podium of the season and fourth overall for the GP.
“I lost the overall podium in the first moto” admitted Swanepoel. “I had a bad start but came through the pack pretty well. In the second moto start I managed to sneak up the inside and was able to run up front and was pumped about finishing third. My highlight of the weekend was actually the qualifying race on Saturday. I was close to winning it and I think this needs to be my next goal and then work on that to try and win GP’s.”
Being a former 125 and Open German champion, Swanepoel will look forward to the 5th round of the FIM MX World championship which will take place in Teutschenthal, Germany, in two weeks time.
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