Swanny ripper!
By Alex Hodgkinson on 6th Dec 04
He was part of the Springbok invasion that brought Tyla Rattray to Europe but injuries slowed his charge. Now Gareth Swanepoel's got a great ride with Molson Kawasaki and a whole new motivation TWO YEARS ago Gareth Swanepoel was ready to chuck it all in but, on the eve of the 2005 season, the new boy at Molson Kawasaki is looking to run with fellow Springbok and MX2 #2 Tyla Rattray on the world stage. "I came over to Europe in 2000 with Tyla and Tinus Nel but got injured the second year and KTM weren't interested in me when they were looking to build Vangani into their official junior team so I decided to take the Kosak route with Kawasaki. "It was a very difficult year for me. The equipment just wasn't competitive at a higher level and I was struggling in myself. The starts weren't there and you start not believing in yourself anymore. I was living at Herbert Kosak's house and we were arguing every day. We just couldn't get on - it just didn't gel. I was still only 17 and at one stage I was willing to give up and go home for good, I was just finished mentally." Fortunately for himself and the sport Swanny had second thoughts and after two German championships, a top 10 finish in last summer's US National at Unadilla and sterling performances in the final three GPs and the des Nations the 20-year-old from Northcliff - half-an-hour's drive from Jo'burg - is back on green and raring to go. "Molson already started speaking to me in Italy back in June and at the end of the GPs they came with a really good deal. We were waiting for a while for America because there was interest from there too but I think riding for an English team will be good. The set-up is professional and I was assured of a four-stroke. "Germany did a lot for me but I wanted to get away from there. The racing there is very one-sided, not so much opposition. Unfortunately, if you ride for a German team the world championship comes second and I needed to find a team where the world championship was their goal. "Molson also has a base in Belgium - just five minutes from my house - and I have been able to bring Helge Schneider my mechanic for the last three years with me. He's a good mechanic and we get on well most of the time and that's important." Swanny was just 15 when he first landed in Europe with Tinus Nel and the formative Vangani squad. "I had an offer to ride for a German Kawasaki team called Becker after meeting them at a race in Namibia where I had done well. But it was the same time that Tinus was wanting to come over with Tyla. He heard I was going over and didn't want to spend so much money just to go over with one rider so he asked me to join him and that worked out very well. "We were based in Germany the first year and I finished ninth in the national championship - my best result was a second behind Cedric Melotte. For the second year we moved to Belgium but in the winter I crashed at the Munich SX the second night and broke my wrist. From then it all went downhill. It was a bit of a rush to get ready for the new season again, I came back a month later and broke my shoulder in Belgium. I went back home for six months and had a big op on my shoulder. "I came back at end of the summer but I struggled at the GPs and didn't qualify. That was the year Ben came on the team and KTM were looking to build Vangani into their official junior team - I had no results so they weren't interested in me." The 2002 season was not a success with Kosak Kawasaki. "At first sight it was a big, big mistake but when I look back now I can take something positive out of it. It was a wasted year as far as racing goes but I learned so much. I learned to speak German and I grew up quick. I had to. I learned that life is not all a bed of roses. I learned how to deal with life, with difficult people and learned more about myself. I learned to appreciate the good things when they come along." The light at the end of the tunnel came when Gareth's mechanic left the team. "My dad came over for the last five weeks, the results got better and I caught the eye of Kolling Yamaha. I went home after the last race but Kolling gave me a pretty good offer so I decided to give it one more try. "Kolling is perhaps not the most professional team in the world but the atmosphere is relaxed and the bike was good - it kept running - and that's important. I don't think having a big truck and a huge awning are any good if the bikes aren't performing. I was living with the team at Cottbus right over near the Polish border and it was a happy year because at Kolling their heart is in the right place. "I still didn't get to go to many GPs but I won two German championships and I qualified for a GP for the first time when I could go so for 2004 I was looking for a deal where I could ride the GPs full-time again." The only deal on offer was back at Kosak. "It was different this time. KTM wanted me, I got to live in Belgium and Bernd Eckenbach was the team manager. Herbert Kosak was still the team owner and we got on well as long as I didn't have to work with him day in, day out. "Eckenbach is a very fair guy. It was always Nagl, Nagl, Nagl coming down from KTM Germany but Eckenbach always made sure we had the same equipment and it came down to results. We were sort of a testing team for KTM - Aigar Leok had the best results and he was getting the better equipment first but that was strictly on results and he deserved it. "I was paid a small salary from Kosak, not enough to live off but a base. German championships didn't pay too badly and with a little bit of GP money I was scraping through. Most important, I was getting the chance to race GPs. "At Zolder and France I crashed in the qualifying heats. The LCQ in Zolder was just very, very difficult in the storm and in France I simply got bumped to eighth in the last few minutes. But I qualified at every other race. "It was possible to get results with the two-stroke - Tyla and Aigar proved that. Okay, I didn't have the same bike like they got but it wasn't way off. Starts were the big problem and I just wasn't getting any. Still, I was finishing between 11th and 20th - not bad for my first full year." And then came Unadilla! "My manager Glen Dempsey arranged the entry and KTM fixed up the bike. They had a lot of injuries so there were plenty of bikes available. There was a conflict when I got there because they said I had to wear Alpinestars clothing and Kosak had a Thor contract but that got fixed in the end and I shocked a lot of people - particularly as I didn't have any top 10 results in the GPs. I wasn't surprised - I knew I could do it. "I went over there with a whole new motivation. Just being there really motivated me and getting in the factory team was a boost. The whole atmosphere over there reminded me of back home in SA. I felt confident, I felt at ease and it was the best bike I had ever ridden." Swanny got an eighth and the success spilled over when he came back to Europe - an eighth at Gaildorf, sixth at Ballykelly and a barnstorming ride past Cairoli, Caps, Federici and Chiodi for fourth at Sun City. Already on Saturday he had proven his speed - even world champion Townley needed to push to the limit in the final minute of qualification to prevent the local boy snatching pole. "Once I came back from Unadilla I was so confident. I had proved that all I needed were the starts and they improved. That one result can just boost the confidence so much." The Nations too - racing an SX450F - saw Swanny run with the best and his SX skills have been evident during his first outings for Molson with a triple win in Czecho and a stunning heat ride at Bercy before hardened US regular Brock Sellards put him in the wall and sent him into the winter break with a dislocated shoulder." Despite the late season surge Gareth still only ended the MX2 GP season ranked 21st but he knows he can do more. "Seeing Tyla up there tells me that I am capable of that too. In SA I was national champion in the 80s and it was always between me and Wyatt Avis. Tyla was a year younger than us but he was back in fourth or fifth. Even when we came to Europe the first year Tyla was behind - particularly at the start. Then he started catching up, and I got hurt. "I feel I missed two years on Tyla - one year injured and the first year with Kosak was also a non-starter. I'm a year older but I'm a year behind in experience. It just goes to show the importance of fortune - it shows how a bad career move or an injury can change so much. "And as I said before I was alone. Tyla's entire family came over with us while I was basically alone. Even Avis came over with his dad and this was the first year his dad has left him but I was alone from the start. Maybe it will take me a bit longer to make the top level but once I get there my experiences will be a benefit to me." America is still beckoning. "I got a lot of feedback from teams interested in me for 2005 and they all know my name now. I definitely want to look at America some time but first I have a job to finish in Europe. I want to win a world championship and Molson is the team which can help me towards my goal. "I've always got along well with Tom Church when I've met him. He seems like a nice, down-to-earth guy. And the British championship will give me a good preparation for the GPs. There are a lot of good riders in there. That's what was missing in Germany - you didn't need to be running the pace you need in the GPs to be winning there. "But British riders are all very strong at home and the guys who are running at the top of the British championship are also running at the top of the world. I aim to be one of them!" By Alex Hodgkinson