The 21 year old Molson Kawasaki rider steered his KX 250F to 5^th place overall and was unlucky to miss out on 4th after a crash while holding sixth in the second sprint of 35 minutes and 2 laps dropped ‘Swanie’ down to 10^th. 

The Sun City circuit is located next to the entrance of the holiday resort containing four hotels, a casino, an internationally acclaimed golf course as well as a Crocodile Park and watersports facility. Warm mid-20s temperatures greeted the 25,300 spectators in the middle of a South African winter at the impressively presented and sculpted layout that benefited from a softer and deeper terrain affording better grip and more racing lines.

Tommy Searle gained his best World Championship qualification of the season on Saturday when he held off series leader Christophe Pourcel to secure 2^nd position in the first heat, giving the teenager third pick of positions in the gate. Tom Church was 9^th in the same race while Gareth Swanepoel had finished 4th in the second heat. The fly-away status of the Grand Prix meant a slightly diminished entry list for the category with only 18 regular participants making the long trip to the southern hemisphere and the rest of the gate comprised local hopefuls.

The Molson crew were not assisted by the best of starts in both of the Grand Prix motos. Swanepoel’s best race was undoubtedly the first of the day and his result marked the fourth time he had breached the top four this season. Searle had to weave through the pack on both occasions but showed a sharp sense of speed once able to establish a rhythm without having the hassle of searching for passing opportunities. The teenager, who has notched podium results in the last two GPs, could only manage 6^th and 8^th on what was a tricky surface to handle.

The mix between dirt, sand and slippery hard-pack did not deter Church from posting his best two finishes of the season with a brace of 13ths. The senior member of the team is getting faster and faster with every passing week and the opportunities to regain precious track time that has eluded him in the past twelve months.

The MX2 standings now show Searle and Swanepoel holding eight and ninth positions and separated by only fourteen points. Searle is only seventeen points from Carl Nunn in sixth. Tom Church is 28^th having only contested five Grand Prix after a long layoff.

Molson Kawasaki will now head back home before moving to the north of England and the Skelder Bank circuit for the sixth round of the Maxxis British Championship near Whitby. The following weekend sees a return to World Championship duty with the Grand Prix of Czech Republic taking place at the Loket circuit.

www.molsonkawasaki.com

Photos by Ray Archer

Gareth Swanepoel:

“I started off with a good first race and I normally tend to have a better second race than the first, so I was pleased with that. Unfortunately in the second moto I had a bad start and had to waste some time trying to pass Goncalves. I was closing down the leaders when I had a bit of a big crash. When I got up the bars were pretty twisted and tenth was the best I could do.”

Tommy Searle:

“In the first race I had a poor start and was riding bad at the beginning but I moved through a small group and passed a couple of riders and finished sixth. At the end I was as fast as most of them out there. In the second moto I again got caught at the start and was stuck behind many guys down outside the top ten. As soon as I got a bit of freedom my lap-times were the same as the top three. The track was fine but hard to pass. We have the British Championship next and I need to start winning some races because Carl is not far in front but I won’t win it by taking just seconds and thirds.”

Tom Church:

“It was not a bad day and I am pleased to have finished both races which I haven’t done in a while. I did my best to hang onto those guys at the front. They are top ten GP riders and there was always going to be that gap between me and them because I have been finishing around the top twenty at the moment. I was happy with my speed and I need to keep on working now and it should get better.”

MX2 Moto1

1 PHILIPPAERTS David ITA KTM 39:58.600, 2 RATTRAY Tyla RSA KTM 39:59.852, 3 CAIROLI Antonio ITA YAMAHA 40:25.932, 4 SWANEPOEL Gareth RSA KAWASAKI 40:31.269, 5 NUNN Carl  GBR KTM 40:33.081, 6 SEARLE Tommy GBR KAWASAKI 40:37.129, 7 GUARNERI Davide ITA YAMAHA 40:41.051, 8 POURCEL Sébastien FRA KAWASAKI 40:44.590, 9 CHIODI Alessio ITA YAMAHA 40:44.976, 10 POURCEL Christophe FRA KAWASAKI 40:45.603, 13 CHURCH Tom GBR KAWASAKI 41:38.282

MX2 Moto 2

1 CAIROLI Antonio ITA YAMAHA 40:44.327, 2 RATTRAY Tyla RSA KTM 40:49.137, 3 NUNN Carl  GBR KTM 40:50.577, 4 POURCEL Christophe FRA KAWASAKI 41:05.919, 5 MONNI Manuel ITA KTM 41:07.800, 6 GONCALVES Rui POR KTM 41:10.658, 7 POURCEL Sébastien FRA KAWASAKI 41:13.917, 8 SEARLE Tommy GBR KAWASAKI 41:14.473, 9 GUARNERI Davide ITA YAMAHA 41:22.621, 10 SWANEPOEL Gareth RSA KAWASAKI 41:37.012, 13 CHURCH Tom GBR KAWASAKI 42:31.569

MX2 Overall result

1 CAIROLI Antonio ITA YAMAHA 45, 2 RATTRAY Tyla RSA KTM 44, 3 NUNN Carl  GBR KTM 36, 4 POURCEL Christophe FRA KAWASAKI 29, 5 SWANEPOEL Gareth RSA KAWASAKI 29, 6 SEARLE Tommy GBR KAWASAKI 28, 7 POURCEL Sébastien FRA KAWASAKI 27, 8 MONNI Manuel ITA KTM 26, 9 GUARNERI Davide ITA YAMAHA 26, 10 PHILIPPAERTS David ITA KTM 25, 13 CHURCH Tom GBR KAWASAKI 16

MX2 World Championship standings after 10 of 15 rounds

1 POURCEL C. FRA 379, 2 CAIROLI Antonio ITA 347, 3 PHILIPPAERTS D. ITA 329, 4 RATTRAY Tyla RSA 305, 5 DE REUVER Marc NED 284, 6 NUNN Carl GBR 241, 7 MACKENZIE Billy GBR 228, 8 SEARLE Tommy GBR 224, 9 SWANEPOEL Gareth RSA 210, 10 POURCEL S. FRA 207, 28 CHURCH Tom GBR 26