Sevlievo, Bulgaria, 17 June 2007 - Gareth Swanepoel gave Molson Kawasaki a best finish of sixth overall at a hot and bright Sevlievo circuit for the Grand Prix of Bulgaria and the eighth round of the FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship.
The sunny but breezy venue was home to high temperatures and a hard-packed terrain that formulated a quick and throttle-heavy layout. The track, with excellent spectator viewing, was surrounded by a 26,000 attendance. The rutted earth and jumpy course was hard on the machinery.
Swanepoel took a decent third place in his qualification heat on Saturday (‘heat’ being an appropriate term considering the elevated temperatures) behind Pourcel and Rattray with Church capturing sixth position in the same race.
The South African’s first moto was a test of endurance and the KX250F rider deserves full credit for sealing eighth position without his front brake. “Unfortunately I went really tight on the first corner and I think I rode over a piece of the tape because I lost use of the front brake for the whole race and struggled with that,” he explained. “I had some stopping power but the bike wouldn’t stay in line. It was hard because they had watered the track and using the back brake was a tough process. Afterwards we found some bunting caught in the brake.”
The second race saw shades of the racer that grabbed his first career podium back at Valkenswaard. The 21 year old ran inside the top five and passed British Championship rival Tommy Searle on the works KTM at mid-distance. Searle pushed back through to fifth after five laps but ‘Swanie’ hung on and hounded the teenager to the flag, finishing just over a second behind. “In the second moto I got a much better start and managed to pass Searle,” he said. “I was in front of Tyla but made a small mistake at the top of the circuit and went down. I quickly got started again but lost two or three seconds and Tommy came close. When he overtook me I hung with him until the end and I was happy with that and pleased that I could match the pace of the front-runners.”
Church ended the day with nineteenth overall and seven more championship points thanks to seventeenth and eighteenth positions in the races. He started badly in Moto1 and then couldn’t maintain a steady rhythm all the way until the flag. He was nullified as a top ten threat in the second moto after being hit by Anthony Boissiere on the first lap. The 25 year old restarted in almost last position and scrambled his way back for three points.
“It was not the best of days! I got a bad start and nearly went down in the first race,” he commented. “I worked my way up to fifteenth but struggled on the last two laps. I pushed so hard at the start to come through that I wore myself out. I felt good for the second moto and was in eleventh on the first lap when Boissiere came down the hill and cleaned both of us out. I was last and got going, coming back pretty strong to seventeenth when Boissiere came through on the last two laps. I struggled with the heat today. The bike was working great I just need to have a little bit of luck.”
In the world championship standings Swanepoel is sixth and 43 points from fifth place. Church is fourteenth and just 17 points from the top eleven.
Stephen Sword made his first competitive outing for the team and his first for more than twelve months when he took to the track at Hawkstone Park for a meeting in the British Masters series. The Scot scored 6th and 10th positions in rain-soaked conditions. He fell in the second moto but pulled through from last place. Ray Rowson claimed 3rd and 5th places.
Molson Kawasaki now have a busy time ahead with alternating weeks of domestic and international commitments. Next weekend sees the fifth round of the Maxxis British Championship at Desertmartin followed by the ninth FIM test with the Grand Prix of Uddevalla at Sweden closing the month. The team will not enjoy a break until the fourth weekend of July.
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