Everts wins Swedish MX GP500.

Yamaha L&M's Stefan Everts emerged victorious from a nailbiting duel with arch rival Joel Smets today in Sweden to record his fourth win in eight Grand's Prix this year.

During almost the entire race Smets was never further than one second behind the leading YZ500FM and the pressure that Everts felt must have been enormous.

Nevertheless the current 500cc world champion never lost his composure and even a determined last lap effort from Smets did not put Everts' victory in too great danger, although the margin was a minimal 0.5 seconds crossing the line.

Everts has now moved into a 30 points lead in the standings as the World MX championship takes a summer break before resuming in August for the final four rounds.

The pressure for the 2002 title is still full on as teammate Marnicq Bervoets consolidated his second place in the series by completing the Swedish podium in third place, finishing some 30 seconds behind Everts.

The Yamaha riders did not holeshot, but recent work by the Rinaldi team, after the starts by their riders had recently not been up to the usual high standards associated with the Yamaha YZ500FM, meant that Everts and Bervoets were second and third leaving turn one. Everts immediately attacked Smets to snatch a lead he was never to lose again after he and Smets had ridden wheel-to-wheel through a series of turns.

Everts stated: "I knew I wouldn't be able to pull away from Smets, but when I saw the opportunity to go for the pass I went for it, then I was able to ride my own lines without eating his dirt. I knew that he would attack in the last three laps and I spent the race preparing to fight him off when his charge came."

Everts was confident that his Yamaha would have kept him in front no matter what, but he also got a bonus when a lapped rider got between the battling Belgians at the moment of Smets' best shot at the win.

After the thrilling race the winner said: "Joel rode a very fair race, and I would like to thank him for it, but I was determined not to let this one get away. Two busloads of supporters from my fan club traveled all the way here to see me, and I couldn't disappoint them, could I?"

The next round is in Everts' home country on August 4, and Stefan plans no race entries before then: "It's been a long, hard season and I'm going to take a week off now, but then I'll be back into training because I want to win there too; home GP's are always very special."

Marnicq Bervoets hung onto the leading duo for several laps but then gradually lost ground, as he was unable to put in similar lap times as the two men in front of him. It was a fairly lonely race for Marnicq as he was never in danger from any of the chasing riders behind him: "Stefan and Joel were just that little bit faster than me. I could Bervoets secured third hold onto them for a few laps and felt comfortable, but then Stefan started to push the pace and I found I couldn't stay with them. I really wanted to win this one, and I tried really hard to pull them back, but I started making mistakes. This is a strange track, very slippery, and then it is easy to go down. In the end I had to think about the championship and make sure of the 20 points for third."

Race Results MX GP500 - Round: 8 - Swedish Grand Prix:

1 S. Everts Yamaha BEL 40' 40.411
2 J. Smets KTM BEL +0.587
3 M. Bervoets Yamaha BEL +30.741
4 F. Garcia Vico KTM ESP +49.286
5 B. Jorgensen Husqvarna DNK +52.816
6 A. Bartolini Honda ITA +1' 0.065
7 J. Lindhe Husqvarna SWE +1' 0.999
8 J. Noble Honda GBR +1' 1.915
9 T. Bethys Honda FRA +1' 7.483
10 D. Theybers KTM BEL +1' 7.860
11 R. Jelen Honda SVK +1' 8.715
12 P. Johansson KTM SWE +1' 46.985
13 S. Flockhart Honda GBR +1' 50.303
14 M. Kadlecek Husqvarna CZE +1' 53.509
15 A. Leok Honda EST +1' 54.195
16 M. Jones Honda GBR +1' 54.652
17 M. Aaltonen HusaBerg FIN +1 lap(s)
18 A. Pyrhonen Honda SWE +1 lap(s)
19 M. Hucklebridge VOR GBR +1 lap(s)
20 M. Zereva KTM CZE +1 lap(s)

Fastest lap:
J. Smets KTM BEL 1' 59.689

Championship standings MX GP500:

1 Stefan Everts Yamaha BEL 182
2 Marnicq Bervoets Yamaha BEL 152
3 Francisco Garcia Vico KTM ESP 146
4 Joel Smets KTM BEL 132
5 Andrea Bartolini Honda ITA 113
6 Yves Demaria KTM FRA 87
7 Roman Jelen Honda SVK 86
8 Avo Leok Honda EST 70
9 Thierry Bethys Honda FRA 66
10 Brian Jorgensen Husqvarna DNK 60
11 Danny Theybers KTM BEL 59
12 Cedric Melotte Yamaha BEL 54
13 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 52
14 James Noble Honda GBR 51
15 Chris Burnham Honda GBR 41
16 Alessandro Zanni Honda ITA 39
17 Joakim Karlsson HusaBerg SWE 38

Manufacturers standings MX GP500:

1 Yamaha 186
2 KTM 184
3 Honda 139
4 Husqvarna 74
5 HusaBerg 61
6 VOR 52