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Nineteen year old South African, Gareth Swanepoel, has captured the attention of the Americans at the sixth round of the AMA Nationals in Unadilla this Sunday. The KTM Kosak rider took advantage of a gap in the GP calendar and with the support of KTM USA, Swanie took his place alongside factory riders Ryan Hughes and Brett Metcalfe under the Redbull KTM awning.
Thundershowers on Saturday cancelled the practice and qualifying races which meant Swanie would only have Sunday morning to set up the bike and then move straight into his qualifying race. The South African got straight into the job at hand and cruised to a ninth position in his qualification heat which placed him directly into the main programme.
As the gate dropped for the first heat of the day Swanie on the number #956 Redbull KTM was in amongst the action of his first ever AMA National appearance. He worked his way into ninth position and looked to be turning out some consistent lap times when a mistake just before the half way mark destroyed all chances of a top ten finish. Swanie remounted and fought his way back to finish eighteenth - his efforts had already been spotted by the commentators.
With the track now rougher and more demanding for the second heat, Swanie used his GP experience and once again he was fighting with the top boys! The intense race pace had drained him in race one but Swanie dug really deep and broke into the top ten. He battled with Branden Jesseman before getting the better of the American and went on to cross the finish line in a stellar eighth position.
“I was worried about the rain but it held off and the track was just awesome. I was disappointed with my crash in the first heat – it could have been two top ten finishes today but I’m really happy about the second race. The pace in the USA is so much more intense than the GP’s in Europe – the guys are much more aggressive, even in practice. It’s been a great experience for me and I would like to thank the guys at KTM for making a dream come true. I got to feel what it’s like to be a factory rider for a day and that’s for sure something I want to work towards,” said Swanie.
|
Pos. |
Pts. |
Moto 1 |
Moto 2 |
No. |
Rider
name |
Hometown |
Bike |
|
1 |
50 |
25 (1) |
25 (1) |
259 |
J. Stewart |
|
|
|
2 |
42 |
20 (3) |
22 (2) |
122 |
M. Walker |
|
|
|
3 |
31 |
15 (6) |
16 (5) |
33 |
K. Smith |
|
Yamaha YZ250F |
|
4 |
30 |
10 (11) |
20 (3) |
3 |
M. Brown |
|
Yamaha YZ250F |
|
5 |
29 |
14 (7) |
15 (6) |
386 |
J. Grant |
|
Honda CRF250R |
|
6 |
29 |
18 (4) |
11 (10) |
105 |
R. Hughes |
|
KTM 125SX |
|
7 |
27 |
9 (12) |
18 (4) |
60 |
B. Hepler |
|
|
|
8 |
26 |
12 (9) |
14 (7) |
44 |
R. Mills |
|
Honda CRF250R |
|
9 |
24 |
22 (2) |
2 (19) |
188 |
D. Millsaps |
|
|
|
10 |
19 |
13 (8) |
6 (15) |
25 |
N. Ramsey |
|
Honda CRF250R |
|
11 |
16 |
3 (18) |
13 (8) |
956 |
G. Swanepoel |
|
KTM 125SX |
|
12 |
16 |
16 (5) |
0 (32) |
59 |
D. Smith |
|
Yamaha YZ250F |
|
13 |
14 |
7 (14) |
7 (14) |
41 |
B. Gray |
|
|
|
14 |
12 |
2 (19) |
10 (11) |
46 |
D. Hurley |
|
|
|
15 |
12 |
4 (17) |
8 (13) |
123 |
B. Metcalfe |
|
KTM 125SX |
|
16 |
12 |
0 (39) |
12 (9) |
49 |
B. Jesseman |
|
|
|
17 |
11 |
11 (10) |
0 (34) |
256 |
B. Johnson |
|
Yamaha YZ250F |
|
18 |
9 |
0 (37) |
9 (12) |
48 |
P. Carpenter |
|
|
|
19 |
8 |
8 (13) |
0 (36) |
56 |
T. Weigand |
|
Honda CRF250R |
|
20 |
6 |
6 (15) |
0 (33) |
42 |
S. Boniface |
|
|
|
21 |
5 |
5 (16) |
0 (22) |
47 |
M. Lalloz |
|
Honda CR125R |
|
22 |
5 |
0 (30) |
5 (16) |
80 |
J. Summey |
|
Yamaha YZ250F |
|
23 |
4 |
0 (21) |
4 (17) |
52 |
G. Schnell |
|
Honda CRF250R |
|
24 |
3 |
0 (25) |
3 (18) |
158 |
J. Buckelew |
|
Honda CRF250R |
|
25 |
1 |
0 (23) |
1 (20) |
29 |
I. Tedesco |
|
|
|
26 |
1 |
1 (20) |
0 (23) |
475 |
J. Casillas |
|
Yamaha YZ250F |
|
27 |
0 |
0 (22) |
0 (24) |
263 |
S. Collier |
|
Honda CRF250R |
|
28 |
0 |
0 (24) |
0 (25) |
251 |
P. Chamberlain |
|
Yamaha YZ250F |
|
29 |
0 |
0 (26) |
0 (27) |
171 |
C. Siebler |
|
|
