Liam Everts might not have had the season he’d have expected, but since the British Grand Prix at Foxhill, the Belgian has been hitting form. That momentum continued at the Swedish Grand Prix, where Everts came close to claiming his first MX2 overall victory of the season.
Everts went 2-2 in the two motos to finish second overall, with Sacha Coenen proving impossible to pass in either race. Despite being unable to find a way past the championship contender, Everts showed strong pace throughout the weekend and once again looked like a rider capable of fighting at the sharp end of the MX2 field.
“I was there all weekend. I felt really strong and really good. I just came up one second short. My riding and my pace all weekend was good. Unfortunately for me, Sacha didn’t make mistakes. I was pushing until the end”, Everts stated.
The result is another positive step for Everts, who has openly acknowledged that this season has been far from straightforward. Changes to his bike appear to have helped him rediscover some of the confidence and consistency that he was searching for earlier in the campaign.
“It’s been an up and down season. Struggling with the bike or something else myself, things happening outside of my control. We made some changes on the bike and we improved this weekend. We will see what we can do going forward”.
With the next round taking place in Arnhem, Everts will have another opportunity to fight for that elusive first overall win of the season. The Dutch track will also mark the final sand race of the 2026 MX2 campaign.
“It’s a short drive so I’m looking forward to Arnhem. It’s the last sand race of the year so I hope to make it a good one”.
Finding confidence again
While Everts has been edging closer to the top step, his recent improvement has come from a combination of time, changes to the bike and rebuilding his confidence.
“It’s a tricky question, what would I put my improvement down too? A little bit of time, I guess and just improving myself, getting things right again. We have made changes to setup on the bike and building confidence again. Like I said before, it wasn’t the easiest of seasons. I think today was a really good shot of getting that first win of the season, it was actually there for me so maybe next weekend”.
His performance in Sweden was particularly encouraging given the demands of the track. The changing conditions and technical nature of the circuit made it difficult to make passes, with Everts explaining how the track preparation brought the field closer together in the early stages of the motos.
“With the bike, basically what I was looking for was how I felt this weekend. I was feeling good. I always like these tracks, you need to have a lot of throttle control and it’s not easy. They prepped a lot of the outside berms and I felt like that it put everybody closer together, if that makes sense at the beginning of the moto. The track wasn’t as hard like it was yesterday, there were some guys that didn’t feel so comfortable. It was really sketchy in places but then again, it separates the field again. I didn’t see many passes today, put it that way”.
Everts may have had to settle for second in Sweden, but his performance once again underlined the progress he has made in recent weeks. With his pace strong, confidence returning and the bike working more to his liking, the MX2 rider looks to be heading into the final stages of the season with renewed momentum.
After coming so close to victory in Sweden, Everts will now turn his attention to Arnhem with one clear objective: finally putting together the weekend that delivers his first MX2 overall win of the season.
