Liams Latvian tales


It is 2020 and everything is possible! Yes also three Grand Prix’ races in just one week and all at one venue. To catch up on some of the lost racing while we were in a global lock down, some venues are hosting three full blown grand prix ‘weekends’. One of those lucky venues is Kegums in Latvia.
 
After months of no Grand Prix racing, the EMX250 riders restarted their championship in Latvia. With also Liam Everts on the starting gate. The young Belgian did great in his debut, months ago at Valkenswaard. After a lot of training on his KTM 250SX-F Liam felt ready for the retake of the championship.
 
But the time-practice didn’t delivered an great lap time. This resulting in twenty-first gate at the start. Far from ideal, knowing the first corner at Kegums. At the start of the first heat Liam did all he could, this resulting in a decent start. Coming through around thirteenth position. Under the blistering Latvian sun, the HGS-supported racer fought the whole race to finish inside the top ten. But a collision with a competitor, in the final lap, made an end to this. The Maxxis-tires pilot would eventually finish in sixteenth position.
 
Between his two heats, Liam started to feel a bit under the weather. This made his second heat a suffering-fest. After a bad start he showed on the leaderboard in twenty-second place. But the Yoko-rider kept doing his laps at a steady pace. Overtaking riders who had started too fast or crashed, climbing up towards a sixteenth place. A nice result for this second heat. Both sixteenth places together resulted in a eighteenth place at the overall.
 
After the race on Saturday, Liam was racing again on Tuesday. This for Kegums – Part II. Sadly enough the time practice brought quite the same result as on Saturday. Liam couldn’t put a decent time on the table. A twenty-fourth starting gate condemned him immediately for some hard starts.
 
The only thing was that Liam had some other plans for himself. At the first heat the KTM-rider came through the first corner in the top ten! Battling with the best riders in the class, the Ortema-supported rider gained some positions, lost a position and gained some more positions. All this made Liam finish in seventh.
 
In the second heat we saw Liam take another great start. From an awful start position the youngster came through the first corners inside the top ten. Between riders who are often a few years older, Liam shows that he can ride a dirt-bike. He kept going till the last lap and that brought him an eleventh place. The seventh place from the first heat combined with the eleventh place from heat two, gets the Foodmaker rider a ninth place overall. In the championship standings you find Liam Everts at place seven.
Result EMX250 Grand Prix - Kegums I
Moto1 Moto2 Overall

1. Thibault Benistant - 15 laps
2. Isak Gifting +0:13.020
3. Tim Edberg +0:18.921
4. J-M Talviku +0:26.499
5. Mattia Guadagnini +0:31.619
16. LIAM EVERTS +1:10.160

1. Mattia Guadagnini - 15 laps
2. Thibault Benistant +0:00.582
3. J-M Talviku +0:26.037
4. Isak Gifting +0:32.021
5. Kay de Wolf +0:37.570
16. LIAM EVERTS +1:39.248

1. Thibault Benistant - 47 points
2. Mattia Guadagnini - 41 p.
3. Isak Gifting - 40 p.
4. J-M Talviku - 38 p.
5. Tim Edberg - 33 p.
18. LIAM EVERTS - 10 p.

Result EMX250 Grand Prix - Kegums 2
Moto1 Moto2 Overall

1. Thibault Benistant - 15 laps
2. Tom Guyon +0:11.612
3. Meico Vettik +0:20.515
4. Mattia Guadagnini +0:24.836
5. Lorenzo Locurcio +0:31.357
7. LIAM EVERTS +0:40.914

1. Thibault Benistant - 15 laps
2. Isak Gifting +0:07.259
3. Hakon Fredriksen +0:13.403
4. Kay de Wolf +0:16.449
5. Tim Edberg +0:23.699
11. LIAM EVERTS +0:52.581

1. Thibault Benistant - 50 points
2. Meico Vettik - 35 p.
3. Isak Gifting - 31 p.
4. Hakon Fredriksen - p.
5. Tim Edberg - 28 p.
9. LIAM EVERTS - 24 p.

The next round Liam will race, will be Kegums – Part III!