Upcoming weekend Liam Everts will make a next step in his, still very young, career. The 17 year old Belgian will make his debut in the MX2 World Championship. This 50 years after his grand-dad Harry who made his debut in 1971 (October 3). and 15 years and 2 days after dad Stefan’ last World Championship race of his career (September 17; 2006). For grand-dad Harry the mythical place to start his successful world championship career back in the day was Launsdorf in Austria. Liam will start his at the MXGP of Sardegna in Italy where he will face a brutal sand track, build in the sand dunes of Riola Sardo.
In the past month, with no European Championship races on the schedule and only two Grand Prix races overseas in Turkey, Liam kept himself busy by racing international races. Showing that he’s ready for his debut in the World Championship and for the Motocross of Nations. The first race he raced was the traditional “August 15” meeting at the Keiheuvel in Balen, Belgium. This track that has a similar base as what we will see in Riola Sardo, had some WC MX2 and EMX250 regulars on the start gate. This stacked field made this race perfect to test his level against the front runners in the World Championship MX2: Tom Vialle, Jago Geerts but also against Jed Beaton, Rene Hofer and others. Liam immediately showed his pace in the timed practice by clocking the third time! In the first heat, his start wasn’t that amazing, but from outside the top 5 the KTM rider fought himself a way past Rick Elzinga, Rene Hofer and Jed Beaton. At the end of heat one he finished in third, with only Tom Vialle and Jago Geerts in front of him.
In the second heat Liam started just behind Vialle and Geerts. Those two were just a bit to fast, and he tried to salvage his third place in a battle with Jed Beaton. But halfway through the race Jed Beaton went to the third place and Liam finished in fourth. In the super final the top 15 of the 450 class and 250 class raced each other, Liam raced a solid race. He managed to finish ninth overall in this race and this resulted in being second 250/MX2 rider, behind Jago Geerts. Racing between machines that are 200cc more powerful isn’t fun, neither fair or interesting for the fans. But with the MXoN coming up and Liam being selected to race the 250cc bike in the MX2 class he will race between those bikes twice. So this was a very interesting experience for the Foodmaker sponsored youngster.
After the race at the Keiheuvel, Liam raced two ADAC MX Youngster Cup races. The Belgian pulled himself out of the championship hunt by skipping the race in Dreetz, all to race in Belgium in front of his home crowd at the Keiheuvel. Now the plan would be, winning heats and possible overall wins. At Fürstlich Drehna, a track where he also took the overall in the 85cc in 2018, this plan came perfectly together. The youngster from Lummen dominated the event by finishing in second in the first heat and winning the second and the third heat! Those results combined gave him the overall win, with 72 points! Coincidence?
Past weekend the final ADAC MX Youngster Cup race of the season was held in Reutlingen. On this hardpack track, Liam grabbed the overall again. Less dominant as his first win but with a fourth place finish in the first heat, a heat win in the second moto and again a fourth place finish he scored 61 points, and that was enough to score the overall victory.
Those two great results in the ADAC MX Youngster Cup, resulted in Liam ending up in third in the championship standings! Looking back on the past month and all the positive results, his debut in the MX2 world championship, can’t come on a better time for the 17-year old Belgian!
Picture: Gino Maes
