Everts To Go For Two

Paul Carruthers | May 24, 2003

The following release is from Yamaha…

Motocross GP championship contender Stefan Everts will contest for the first time this season both the Motocross GP race as well as the 125 event. His 2003 debut in the 125 class with a four-stroke YZ250F at the Italian round held at Montevarchi on June 1 will for the moment just be a one-off initiative.

With the newly introduced format of the championship where two-stroke and four-stroke machine compete in the same race for the Motocross GP and 125 classes, Stefan Everts considered entering the both races before the start of the season. However, to compete in both single-race classes presented some organizational headaches as the qualifying sessions and races are held shortly after another. But now that the rider and his team have enough experience with the new format and time tables, the Yamaha L&M Motocross Team are confident they can support their rider in his desire to compete twice in one event.

Stefan Everts, who won his first of six world championships in the 125 class in 1991, has been brought up with the fact that at a World Championship event used to have two heats on one day, and same as many of his generation, he longs for double the action instead of a single race on Sunday.

“I appreciate that Yamaha have decided to support my desire to enter the 125 race as well. I am super fit and two races will not present any physical problems, I have been doing that for most of my career!”, the Belgian star explained. It sounds that Everts is very serious about the entry; “Prior to the event we will do some dedicated tests with the bike to confirm which engine specification and setting will suit my riding style best.”

The YZ250F and YZ450FM Yamaha’s both share similar chassis’ and Everts does most of his training on the 250, so a double assault on race victory at the Italian Motocross GP should be realistic target. The 250 four-stroke bike has already proved its competitiveness in the 125 class beyond doubt with podium finishes at every round this year with championship contenders Andrea Bartolini and Alessio Chiodi.

Everts will compete with a Yamaha Rinaldi R&D (YRRD) tuned YZ250F, featuring some special parts like: Factory KYB suspension; YZ450FM specification triple clamp; YZ450FM brakes.

Yamaha L&M Team principal Michele Rinaldi, who first wanted to verify the pro and cons of Stefan’s request, confessed; “Stefan is a real racer, his desire to compete is still so strong. After so many years at the top, with so much success, his hunger to race is still that of an 18-year-old GP novice! I am sure this is the true secret behind all of his records”. At the start of the season we did not want to compromise our main target to win the Motocross GP, but now with experience behind our belt, we have found a way to support Stefan for both classes. In some way competing in the 125 class can even have some advantages for the Motocross GP main event.”

Stefan Everts, the team and Yamaha will decide after the Montevarchi event whether to enter more 125 races for the remainder of the season.

Paul Carruthers | Editor

Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-28-year tenure at America's Daily Motorcycle News Source.