The Everts family and motocross seem inextricably linked. After the rich career of daddy Stefan Everts, it is now son Liam who is making progress. And so they go from game to game again. “I hope he can achieve what he wants to achieve and I want to support him in that,” says mom Kelly Everts.
Next season Liam Everts will compete in MX2. The dream, of course, is the MXGP. “I’m very happy that it worked out for him,” says his mom Kelly.
One of the consequences, of course, is that Kelly is also being sucked back into the motocross world. Is that predestined? “Probably,” she laughs. “I don’t think about it like that. We’ve been doing it for years. I’ve traveled all over the world with Stefan and then it’s calmed down for a few years. And now you see everything starting again.”
“I’m not doing it against my will, you know. Liam himself has decided that he wants to go for it and he can do that from me.”
“We don’t really know anything else. We grew up in it. We’re never at home on the weekend, that’s true. And when we’re at home it’s a lot of arranging. But I don’t miss the free time. I’m so used to this.”
The family has another daughter, Mylee. How do they divide the attention? “That’s not easy. During the week she always trains, we take her to gymnastics every day. She gets our attention during the week. She doesn’t always want to come to the cross country, but she is spoiled everywhere. She is completely just.”
We know nothing else. We’re never home on weekends, but I don’t miss the free time.
“I just hope Liam can achieve what he wants to achieve”
The comparison between daddy and son is made a lot, but what’s in his mother’s Liam? “He certainly has the sporty aspect of Stefan, and also the perseverance. But he will also have things from me, you know. For example, he is very concerned about people and he is also organised. Everything must be neat and in order.”
And the smooth talk has Liam from both parents. “Liam is who he is, also in front of the camera. He’s been that since childhood.”
Whether the cross-country career will ever take off as much as his father’s, mama Kelly is not yet ready to say. “I can’t compare anything yet. I can only hope that he does as well as possible and that he can achieve what he wants to achieve. I want to support and help him in that.”
Stefan and Liam Everts.
“When he fell last week, I screamed in front of my TV”
And yet it’s not the same to travel with your husband or with your son. “I’m a bit scared when he’s driving. It’s much worse with your child than with Stefan. During the race, a lot of things are running through my head. What’s going to happen? How is this going to end?”
“I can’t control it with Liam. With Stefan, I had the impression that he was always in control. He knew how far he could go over his limit. But a child has yet to feel that and sometimes things go wrong. I don’t know if he would go over his limit for anything. I can estimate it less well.”
Last week Liam Everts had a serious fall. “He was driving really well, I hadn’t seen him drive like that for a long time, and then it happened. I was glad he stood up because it could have been much worse. I screamed at home in front of TV.”
Watch the report with Kelly Everts
