Everts on edge of tenth title after Czech victory.

Yamaha Intur Sports rider Stefan Everts continued his unbeaten 2006 run with his eleventh victory in succession at a hot and humid Loket in the Czech Republic on Sunday.

The reigning MX1 World Champion - retiring at the end of his season - now needs to score just one point more than his nearest rival at his home Belgian round next weekend at Namur, his favourite circuit, to claim a record tenth title.

Everts triumphed in both Czech motos in front of 23,000 spectators and has now reached a total of 19 consecutive heat victories as well as a career tally of 98 overall grand prix wins; putting him just two wins away from the magic 100.

The hillside circuit located 110km west of Prague had been slightly altered over 2005 with a new pit-lane setting giving the riders more time to see their pit-boards and a tight set of corners behind the technical area. The terrain was loose and littered with small stones that made the mud slippery in places and the layout tended to favour sheer speed over technical ability.

Everts was denied his fifth consecutive pole position by just two hundreds of a second by Suzuki's Kevin Strijbos but it mattered little as the Belgian made a decent jump out of the gained and was just pipped to the holeshot by Josh Coppins - who will replace Everts next season..

By the end of the first lap Everts had placed his YZ450FM ahead of the pack and proceeded to show the CAS Honda rider the fastest route around the steep course. For two thirds of the duration the pair were not separated by more than two seconds but approaching the final ten minutes Everts broke his opponent's resistance and claimed his eighteenth moto in succession.

The second race was a more interesting affair as a bump on the first turn left the 33 year old outside of the top five and forced to chip away at a lead first held by KTM's Jonathan Barragan and then Strijbos. But Everts reached the front on lap eight and was able to comfortably control his nearest opposition from then on.

"It has been a hard GP for me," claimed Everts. "The track was not that difficult in the layout and you could see that by how fast everyone was going. The next few tracks will be more technical and better for me. Josh was riding well in that first moto. There were a few places on the track where I did not have such good lines and he was closing the gap but it is hard to know the full situation when you are in front. In the end I figured out a few places where I could improve and I think he must have made a mistake but it was quite easy to win that moto finally.

"My start wasn't that good in the second race and for a few laps I was in third position with Jonathan and Kevin having a small lead. I had to try hard to pass them both and it was tough, but it was also nice not having to always be working from first position. The new section around the back of the pits was very difficult and it was a place where you could make or lose some ground. That is eleven races in a row now but I am not trying to focus on records and take each weekend as it comes."

Nevertheless, with a 149 point lead and just 200 left to win Everts needs to leave Namur with just one point more than Strijbos to be champion for the tenth time and the sixth successive occasion in a row with Yamaha since 2001 in 500cc, MXGP and MX1 categories. He will also remain the sole winner of the MX1 class since the series' inception in 2004.

"It is the chance of a lifetime to become champion at the Citadelle; it is something that I never dared to dream of and now it might come true. I have been working hard throughout my career for a moment like that and I have many people to thank so that I am in a position like this," said Stefan.

Joining Everts on the Loket podium were Coppins (second) and Barragan (third).

Earlier in the day, the first MX2 race began with a bang when reigning champion Antonio Cairoli and current championship leader Christophe Pourcel - plus Billy Mackenzie, Sebastien Pourcel and Kenneth Gundersen - tangled at turn one, leaving Marc De Reuver to take an early lead from KTM team-mate Carl Nunn, with Alessio Chiodi and another factory KTM of Tyla Rattray following.

The most threatening of the challengers was Rattray, who reached de Reuver's rear wheel at the third lap - but it took until lap 15 for the South African to find a way past for an eventual victory. Meanwhile, de Reuver's fortunes quickly went from bad to worse as he fell, eventually finishing in ninth.

In his absence, another KTM rider - David Philippaerts - took second with Nunn in third. Chiodi was fourth with rising star Tommy Searle fifth for Molson Kawasaki after a fantastic duel against Christophe Pourcel, who was forced to settle for sixth.

Cairoli finished just eleventh after riding with rear brake damage after the first turn fall, but bounced back perfectly by winning race two after fighting his way up from seventh on the first lap.

Christophe Pourcel took second in the race with Philippaerts third - giving David the overall grand prix victory, ahead of Pourcel and Nunn - while first race winner Rattray did not finish after falling on lap seven.

In terms of the championship, Pourcel now leads Cairoli by 34 points, with Philippaerts eleven points further back in third.