Liam Owens arrived into the 2026 EMX250 season carrying high expectations after an impressive campaign last year, but the opening rounds didn’t quite unfold as planned for the talented Aussie rider. Despite showing flashes of his speed, crashes, and a lack of comfort with his package prevented him from consistently challenging at the front, leaving him searching for answers.However, the extended break in the calendar appears to have come at exactly the right time. Following weeks of testing and development work with his team, Owens headed to the latest round feeling far more comfortable on the bike and the results immediately showed. A charge through the field to finish third in the opening moto was a timely reminder of the pace that made him one of the most highly-rated riders in the EMX250 series.
We caught up with Owens as he opens up about the difficult start to his season, the confidence boost gained from his performance in Germany, the technical changes that have transformed his feeling on the bike, and why he believes the best is still to come as he targets a strong second half of the year.
GateDrop: Liam, two completely very different races. A bit unexpected really because it was even dry until literally just before the start of the race and then heavens open. Just a war zone out there really but overall a positive weekend for you I feel like, especially with the first moto. It was a bit more like the Liam Owens that we’ve seen last year so you must be happy with that…
Owens: Yeah, I was happy with the progression, we’ve done a lot of work in the five week break just getting the bike and stuff more how I like it and how the last bike kind of felt so that’s kind of what we were chasing and just more comfortability. It’s not that the previous bike was bad or anything but it just didn’t suit me if you want to say it like that.
Qualifying was good, race one I had a crash and went back to P13 but then pushed forward to P3 so that’s the Liam I know and we plan to keep that in the dry stuff. Race two was just a mudder, it is how it is. Sometimes it falls in your favour and then sometimes not. Obviously the next time we want to try and get good starts and not crash a million times.
GateDrop: In the first moto though it’s probably the first time all year where you’ve got a bad start and you’ve been able to pass the guys and pull away from them. In EMX everyone knows there’s a lot of guys the same speed, it feels like before this round you were sort of stuck on their speed so to be able to pass them and pull away from them, does that give you a bit more confidence now?
Owens: Yeah, for sure that gives you extra confidence. That’s kind of always what I expect from myself, and I also felt at the other rounds I had the speed to do that. I was just being a little bit tentative, I think it was a different expectation in my brain – I was wanting to win this year and I think I was trying to wait for it to almost fall in my hands. I know it’s going to happen eventually, and I’ve realized that we’ve got to start making passes. Just win or die is pretty much how it works, that’s how the guys are doing it at the front so that’s what you have to do if you want to do well in MX2 as well.
GateDrop: When you talk about having the expectations to win this year, that was probably the first time where you really felt like you could be a championship contender I would say. maybe you feel differently but does that add a bit more pressure and especially when things aren’t going the way you would like?
Owens: It doesn’t necessarily add extra pressure for me during the week or anything. It’s more maybe when the race is done or when you’re intense and you know you have to make those positions in order to be in the podium position and put yourself there. I’d say that but in general it was more just a me thing as a rider you just need to make those passes quicker and take that extra risk and not worry about going down and stuff like that.
GateDrop: How frustrating was the start of the year for you? When things aren’t going the way you want them to be sometimes you can get stuck in a bit of a rut but you seem like a positive guy so you’re able to deal with setbacks quite well I guess?
Owens: I like to think of myself that way. In Switzerland I kind of bounced back quite well after being sick and I crashed again actually when I was planning to win that one and I came from eight or something to second and almost won that one so that was always a bit of hope. It also gave the team a bit of belief that I haven’t just completely lost it and I had just a few tough ones like in Sardinia the speed was good and all that but just had some bad luck with crashes and coming together with other riders. I’ve never in my career had been that low self-esteem after Arco, I really had to go back to the drawing board and just reinvent myself and realize I’m not the younger Liam anymore. I’m growing up so it’s time to find a new one and not always chase what I was looking for. I think I’m chasing it so hard that I’ve kind of forgotten who I am so I just need to focus on the new one.
GateDrop: After Arco there was a really big break which is not common at all in MXGP, obviously you still had a few ADAC but apart from those ADAC races what sort of things did you do? Did you get more time at the test track putting the work in and then trying to get the bike right?
Owens: We did a little extra testing for the starts. We changed some gearing stuff and just to give us a little bit more bottom to get us at the front just to get the shifting right. Our bike revs really hard but the problem is that you kind of stay in second gear so long because you can’t pull third halfway down straight but everyone else is already clicking so we changed the gearing to get the pop so we can click earlier. Around the track maybe you have to be a bit busier and it’s kind of like a 125cc but I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction. I was looking for stability, I don’t know why I didn’t do it this year but I think we changed a different triple clamp component and I didn’t run the steering damper – I reckon that’s where all my crashes and all my discomfort came from – just that in general when I hit a big bump I was just getting thrown. That was a big fix so that’s given me the comfortability and I’m excited for the rest of the season.
GateDrop: Just on the ADAC, I mean coming into the season you were expecting the challenge for this title so I guess it was the same in the ADAC. I would say Nicolai Skovbjerg and Scott Smulders have been a level above everyone else so far. Are you hoping now because you’re a bit more comfortable you can start and win races at the ADAC now?
Owens: Of course. Those guys are sand demons and it’s basically a Dutch Masters this year. There’s not much hard pack going on in the ADAC but it’s good to lift my level. Nicolai last year was seventh or something at the MX2 GP in Lommel so he’s not a slouch in the sand. If you can be around him it shows that you’re on a good level so that’s kind of what we aim for. The ADAC is good to get laps for the extra prize money and it’s a lot of fun, it’s just extra training.
GateDrop: I think you raced an MX2 GP last year, have you got any plans to race any this year because next year you are probably wanting to be in MX?
Owens: I want to be in MX2 next year. Last year we raced Teutschenthal and Lommel. This year we’re going to do Loket and Foxhill. I would have really liked to do Lacapelle but we did a race in Switzerland and I raced a 450cc so that was a lot of fun.
