Belgium crowned world champions – Another champion for the Everts family
The Motocross of Nations, the world championship for motocross national teams, was held in Ernée, France, and after an exciting series of events, Belgium was crowned the winner. Spain took silver, finishing three points behind Belgium, and the world championship bronze went, somewhat surprisingly, to the Netherlands.
The host country, France, won the qualifying heats held on Saturday. Spain was right on their heels, and Belgium finished third in the qualifiers. Based on the qualifying results, many were ready to bet their money on either France or Spain. But as has been seen many times before, team competitions are always mysterious, which is exactly what makes them so interesting.
The opening heat on Sunday featured the MXGP and MX2 classes. The heat was won by France’s Romain Febvre, followed by Spain’s Jorge Prado, with Belgium’s Lucas Coenen finishing third. However, France received bad news early in the heat when Febvre’s teammate Mathis Valin was forced to retire on the opening lap. This meant France no longer had any room for error if they wanted to win the championship. Spain now had a strong grip on the title, as Guillem Farres finished fourth in the heat.
The second heat featured the MX2 and Open class riders. The heat was expected to be a showcase for the Netherlands’ Jeffrey Herlings, and that is exactly what happened. Herlings won the heat convincingly. Italy’s Andrea Adamo finished second, and Latvia’s Pauls Jonass, who had found excellent form, finished third. France received another blow when Tom Vialle suffered the same fate as Valin and was also forced to retire on the opening lap. With that, France was out of the championship battle. Belgium, on the other hand, did strong work, with Liam Everts finishing fourth and Sacha Coenen seventh in the heat. Spain was now in trouble, even though Farres finished fifth, because Francisco Garcia was forced to retire.
After two heats, Belgium had taken the lead, the Netherlands was second with their consistent performance, and Spain was third.
The third and decisive heat started under Prado’s command, after Herlings crashed and was only eighth after the opening lap. However, the strong Dutchman began a fierce charge, climbing to Prado’s rear wheel by the ninth lap, and a few laps later, he pulled past Prado, showing that he is the world’s number one at the moment. Prado was second in the heat and Febvre third, with Everts and Lucas Coenen on his heels. The strong contribution from Everts and L. Coenen meant that Belgium was crowned world champion. A consistent and strong team; Liam Everts, Sacha and Lucas Coenen have earned their crown.
Tears of joy were shed in the paddock within the Everts family, as a third-generation rider is now also a world champion, in addition to Harry and Stefan. That is quite a piece of history.
Latvia finished fourth in the team competition, leaving behind, among others, the always-strong USA, which finished fifth. The USA was quite a disappointment, as their lead rider Cooper Webb was “only” sixth twice, even though the American media had hyped in advance that he would fight on equal terms with Herlings, Prado, and Febvre. It turned out otherwise.
The Finns’ progress stalled already in Saturday’s qualifiers, from which they did not advance, leading them to the B-final. Jere Haavisto did win the B-final on Sunday, but a spot in the A-final was not granted to Finland. In addition to Haavisto, the team included Emil Weckman and Saku Mansikkamäki.