Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128345
By "HE CHAMP'S CORNER STEFAN EVERTS Happy and Unhappy Endings A s you can imag ine , am fe eli ng a lit t le do w n at the moment. What I did at t he Gran Prix of South Africa was rea lly not t he correct thing to do. For those who were not there, I will le t you know wha t happe ned in my eyes : I was running second in the race be hind Greg Albe rt yn, w ith Mickael Pichon right beh ind me. I had finished se co nd in the op en ing mota and wa nte d so much to win the secon d mota and the ove rall . My speed was good and I felt really in co ntrol. On a fast right-hand corner I went wide, and Mickael Pichon came on the inside and just rode into me . He knocked me off the bike, and I hurt my should er and hit my head rea lly hard . I was so angry that I just walked over to the part of the track whe re they we re riding and threw my goggles at Pichon. I the n did something rea llystupid: I got back on my bike and slowly rod e aro und the tr ack, waiting for Pichon . I then tried to block him, let him know how mad I was. It was not the correct th ing to do , and I will make an apology to him at the Motocro ss of Nations. Prix; of course, I won my eighth World There was also talk that I ran ove r an official, but that is untru e. I rod e slow ly back into the pits and did crash into a w ire fence, which I couldn't see; I didn't do it o n purpose. tit le ther e. Traditionally, races in Ireland It was a bad day for me , one of my wor st in my care er. I w ish somebody could have grabbed me the mom ent I fell and not le t me go , but I will take the actio n as my fault; I did the w ro ng thing for sure, and I am sorry for that. I will now have a meeti ng with the FIM and we will ate ly found out w hy Ireland is such a wo rk out what must be do ne on this. I ho pe I am no t too pen alized muc h. I t hink I have generally been a good ro le model for the sport, and I re ally wa nt to be able to en d my career w it h the sam e enjoyment I started it wit h. It was nice to race Greg A1bertyn again in South Africa. He was a big rival of mine many years ago , but now we get along great, an d he is also a great sportsm an. T he South African race was rea lly nice , with all the riders together and enjoying one another 's comp any. We all staye d in the same hotels and generally ate togethe r; it was really a nice atm osphe re. Two we e ks prior to the South African race we traveled to Ireland. I really enjoyed th e Irish Grand www.cyclenews.com take place on Saturday, and because of this change my rhythm for the weekend was completely messed up. On my long way fro m Dublin to Ballykelly I immed i, green country, because it sta rted raining like there was no tomorrow. W hen I ar rived there the organizer e xplained to me that Liam is an Irish name and that my fath e r, Harry, was crowne d World Champion in Ire land 25 yea rs earlie r. I sta rted to think a little bit furt her, and I don' t think it is a coincidence. My girlfrie nd is name d Kelly and the race was in Ballykelly. I be came World Ch amp ion in Ireland as we ll - just the way it happened cou ld have bee n a little bett er. Although I rod e a strong first race, Pichon beat me for the win. I started to put some pressure on Michael near the e nd of the race, but I could not make a pass because of the lapped ride rs. To be honest , I was disapp o inted w he n I crossed the finish and I did not feel like raising my arm s despite that my eighth Worl d title was now a fact . A lot of fans had gathered behind the finish line and, in the end, I felt happy for them. To add some more spice to my title, I really wanted to claim the win and I was glad I managed to do so. O n Saturday night we cele bra ted the title with the Yamaha L&M Motocross Team at a local restaurant. O n Monday, September 13, they threw a big party for me and MX2 Wo rld C ham pio n Ben Tow nley in my ho metow n of Neeroe te re n. More than 2500 fans came to the party and saw a brilliant show from Praga Khan on stage. I partied until five in the mo rning and decide d to get up at nine o'clock. My re medy to get the alcohol out of my body? He lping to break up the party tent. Two days later, I had to tr avel to Munich to do some signing at the bike show. Not e xact ly the place you want to be w ith a degr e e of hangover le ft in your body! CYCLE NEWS • OaOBER 13, 200 4 eN 119