Eventful weekend for Liam Everts with frequent crashes!
Just one week after his home race in Lommel, Liam already had to go to Latvia to participate in the fourth round of the EMX250 championship, held at the local circuit of Kegums. In both free practice and official timed qualifying practice, Liam did not find the pace to fight for the top positions. Ultimately, the 17-year-old KTM rider qualified eleventh.
When the starting gate dropped in the first moto, Liam got off to a solid start. Liam says: “The reaction at the gate wasn't great. But I was able to drive a nice line in the first corner, this first corner is always a bit precarious, so when I came out of the corner in fifth or fourth I knew it was good. A few corners later I tried to overtake the man in third position, and as I did so I saw the two leaders hitting each other right in front of us. They both crashed, hampering some pilots and unfortunately killing others. However, there was little to worry about for me because their crash gave me the lead in the race.”
Liam rode smoothly, but a small mistake on lap four saw him lose the lead and drop to seventh place. He quickly resumed the race and in no time he was back in the same rhythm as before the crash. The Yoko-clad pilot entered the fray to make up for lost time. But then Liam made another small mistake. This time he didn't lose any places, just valuable time. Time he could have used at the end of the race. Now Liam would eventually finish fifth in this first heat, just two seconds behind fourth place. What could that have been...
In the second moto Liam got off the bike in the first corner, in a kind of freestyle “NAC-NAC” style, but he stayed upright. A few corners later he decided to explore the Latvian ground a little more intimately and crash. The Foodmaker-KTM rider dusted himself off and restarted his race in a quest for points. In just a few laps, Liam made up more than 10 positions, which really seemed to put him on the path to European Championship points. Unfortunately a big crash would put an end to this rush to the front, Liam explains: “A few laps into the second moto I had a huge crash. In addition to the time I lost due to the crash, I also had to deal with an engine that was completely deformed by the impact. If you look at it this way, I came really damn close to scoring points with such a damaged engine. Maybe. No without a doubt, the most important thing is that I am uninjured after this heavy fall.”
Liam would eventually cross the finish line in twenty-second place. But due to damage to his engine, including damage to the exhaust, he failed the post-race noise inspection. As a result, he was given a penalty, which put him back five places in the rankings to twenty-eighth.
In Kegums' overall EMX250 Grand Prix result, Liam scored twelfth place overall. After four races he is in fourth place in the EMX250 championship with 108 points.
The next race is the Belgian classic in Balen on the Keiheuvel.
Photo: Samo Vidic / Red Bull Content Pool
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