We caught up with Stefan Everts at Hawkstone and he gave us the latest on Liam Everts as he continues to progress following his broken neck in China. Thankfully things have went well and it is not impossible Liam could race in Argentina but it is not a certainty either.
Stefan told us:
“He’s been on the bike since a few weeks now, but he’s been riding very easy like turn track and no G-force impact, but last Friday he had another check-up with the boater and it’s very positive news that he can now continue the build-up from his riding and now he can have more G-forces and go ride at the bigger tracks. And that’s good, so now he texts me just now and he said it was a very good first day.
“Argentina he is not sure he will ride. It all depends how the next week will go and how the reaction will be when he’s on his leg, but the fully healing is something that will take at least a year or no, but at the moment the doctor said it’s strong enough and it’s really easy. It made a really big progress from the last check-up they’ve done”.
“Yeah, it was a nightmare and in the first moment it didn’t look really bad, but then he couldn’t move and it looked to be very very serious and it’s been a very tough hard month for everybody, especially for him because he’s a very good rider and he doesn’t really take a lot of risk. He knows what he’s doing and most of the injuries he has in the past will never be his fault, he also knows he’s not his fault and we know the danger of his fault and things like that, so it’s been a tough one for him.
Thoughts about quitting?
“Thoughts have been there, especially in the first months, you know, you don’t know how and what and how it will turn out and like I said, it’s been a few difficult months knowing where to go and still now we have to wait and see how good you will be finally when it’s racing”.
“What happened in China was a bit of a trauma for him, you know, he got into that experience, it was rough and not easy, but he’s, I think, dealing with it really well. There are some good people around him, who are concerned with those parts mentally, so let’s hope for the best”.
New team
“Yeah, I mean, it’s always nice to have a fresh start and now with the injury, it’s a double fresh start, let’s say. He’s happy so far, you know, I mean, they’ve just been working some months together now and now it’s starting to be more intense because he’s starting to ride and stuff. But really, it seems to me, he’s very happy with the attention he’s getting from the team and the new people he’s working with”.
No more 72
“He talked to me about it and I told him straight away, I said, if you want to change your number one day, you have to do it now. There’s a new team and after injury, maybe it’s a complete fresh start for him. I can understand that he wants to be out of my shadow and make his own career and that’s why also, I’m taking a look at it and let him do his thing with the team around him”.
“And yeah, it’s like this, normal way of life! So one day you have to let your children go and I’m in this situation, I was in the same situation many years ago. I was doing it the same way and I pushed my dad away at one point. But I think Liam has been doing it in a much more proper way, (not) like I’ve been doing it in the past and he’s very gentle on that side. I’ll be on his side as a dad, as good as possible”.
Full interview here:
