Though Staff USA dominated the Eighties within the Nations occasions, there was one nationwide anthem that performed greater than another all through the last decade on the Grand Prix scene – that of Belgium. 119 GPs – over 30% of these held – have been received by a complete of 13 Belgians, and amongst the quickest of them within the 125cc class at first of the last decade was our #43 – Marc Velkeneers.
Phrases: Ben Rumbold | Photographs: Jack Burnicle
CAREER SUMMARY:
Born: August 1961
Years Professionally Raced: 1978-1991 (125cc GPs 1978-83, 250cc GPs 84-88, 500cc GPs 89-91)
Machines Raced: Yamaha, Gilera, Maico, Honda, Kawasaki
GP Wins: 6 GP Podiums: 20 GP Moto Wins: 16 GP Moto Podiums: 42
Nations Choices: 5 – Member of profitable Coupe des Nations workforce 1983 and particular person winner, 2nd-placed workforce Trophee des Nations 1981
Championship Medals: None – finest championship end 4th, 1980 & ’81 125cc World Championship & 1984 250cc World Championship
Flemish-speaking Marc burst onto the scene in 1978, and at simply 16 years previous his GP debut was made at his house 125cc spherical, at a circuit referred to as Lanklaar Dilsen, and instantly he confirmed his pace with 7th total. Tall and eye-catchingly fashionable on the bike, he received followers instantly. If you happen to see photographs from again then there’s a scary facial similarity to Jeffrey Herlings – ought to papa Peter be anxious?! He even rode a 250 GP that 12 months and received the primary moto however when the title-chasing Russians acquired wind of his age – the restrict was speculated to be 18 on the time – he acquired protested out of the factors and the second race altogether!
Controversy
An 18-year-old Marc Velkeneers leads reigning World Champion Harry Everts on the 1980 125cc Dutch GP at Norg .
To stop additional points Marc waited till 1980 to hit the big-time – and he was immediately on the tempo towards legendary countrymen Harry Everts and the approaching Child, Eric Geboers. Taking his first (credited) moto win within the first GP at Norg within the Netherlands, on the second spherical in Austria controversy hit once more as he technically acquired probably the most factors total, though Harry Everts received each motos! How? Effectively, the Suzuki of Everts was discovered to be underweight so his factors for the second race have been deducted, despite the fact that he was nonetheless credited because the GP winner!
Pushing on by way of the sand at Norg with no peak in race two!
Marc didn’t have to attend lengthy for redemption, nonetheless, as every week later he took his first total win correct at his house GP at Hechtel with a 2-1 scorecard to Harry’s 1-3. He had a transparent lead within the championship after an additional moto win in France one other week on, then a constant day in Yugoslavia, whereas others struggled, left him 17 factors clear within the factors chase.
Sadly, at West Germany’s sixth spherical all of it got here to a halt, a damaged ankle left him unable to journey, despite the fact that he tried to. Marc missed the following three GPs, finally leaving him 4th within the sequence, tied on factors with Japanese Yamaha teammate Tetsumi Mitsuyasu. In opposition to the may of Suzuki, Marc was Yamaha’s solely GP winner within the 125s from 1980-82.
1981 noticed Yamaha launch a three-pronged assault on world Motocross – there’s an excellent video on YouTube if you happen to search 1981 Yamaha Motocross, and revel in dubbed-over workforce supervisor Heikki Mikkola! Velkeneers led the 125cc problem and was immediately aggressive once more, with a 2nd profession GP win at Valkenswaard. Marc wasn’t a sand specialist as such, he was quick in every single place, however he was significantly good within the smooth stuff! He received an additional moto in Poland and mounted the general podium 5 instances, one thing he did yearly from ’81 to ’83. The title chase was shut, the highest 4 of Everts, Geboers, Velkeneers, and the Gilera-mounted Michele Rinaldi have been all inside 12 factors of one another with two GPs to go! Marc saved shut after Everts did the double at Czecho, however within the closing spherical at Mongay in Spain, he suffered a no-score day and was once more denied the bronze medal, with Harry the champion as soon as extra. He made his Nations debut at Lommel within the well-known Trophee occasion that noticed Staff USA’s first ever win. Teammate Andre Vromans dominated each motos however Velkeneers, Geboers, and Everts, all 125cc GP riders, couldn’t again him as much as deny the People their first shock win.
Marc manfully wrestles the 250 yamaha by way of the sands of Lommel as a late stand-in for Tam Belgium, on the day that the USa shocked the world by profitable in Belgium’s deepest sandpit!
Denied
It was 1982 that noticed Velkeneers make his finest run at a world title. Firing out of the blocks with 1-2 motos to win the Dutch opener at Venray, he then scored his solely ever most at his grassy house GP at Angreau, and a 3rd straight win with 3-2 motos in Austria. He led the sequence by 34 factors within the days when you can solely get 30 for a most! Geboers and Rinaldi closed in, however moto wins in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia saved the Yamaha man within the hunt after 7 rounds of 12. Tragically it was on the huge Stekene Worldwide in Belgium that he suffered a badly damaged wrist, and as he missed two GPs his good good friend Eric powered away to take the title. Regardless of a comeback moto win on the Coupe des Nations in September, he would half methods with Yamaha earlier than 1983.
Marc had primarily based himself in San Marino from 1982 onwards and in ‘83 he signed up with the Italian Gilera manufacturing facility, who had misplaced their star man Rinaldi to Suzuki. “To start with the bike was not so good, actually not within the sand” says Marc, “then we made one other body that was significantly better.” He misplaced too many factors at first of the 12 months, and regardless of profitable 3 motos he couldn’t get greater than 6th within the sequence, received once more by Geboers. On in the present day’s scoring strategies he would have received the Finnish GP, however misplaced it on the tie-breaking total time system to his substitute at Yamaha, American Jim Gibson.
He did share a magical weekend together with his good buddy Geboers, nonetheless, because the pair clinched the Coupe des Nations for Belgium at Roggenburg alongside future IMBA Champion Jan Blancquert and Thierry Godfroid. They went 1-2 in race one with Eric in entrance, however Marc “knew I used to be going to beat Eric as I used to be technically higher, however Eric was mentally higher!”. The person win in race two, and for the general, was his final on a 125.
250s with Gilera
Gilera had carried out comparatively nothing within the 250cc class, however for 1984 Marc took on the problem of the quarter-litre GPs with them and once more leapt out of the blocks with 2nd on the first GP in France, splitting moto winners Jacky Vimond and Heinz Kinigadner. He received a moto in Yugoslavia and was properly within the title hunt, when abruptly tragedy struck. “I misplaced my father and that was a heavy blow to me, he did every little thing with me, gave me a whole lot of confidence, and it took me some time to recover from his loss.” He soldiered on to get 3rd in a single moto in Italy, and end prime European at that 12 months’s USGP at Unadilla, though amazingly the locals boxed out the highest six locations total!
Marc steers the Gilera to seventh total in entrance of the “Hill Folks” at Unadilla within the 1984 250cc USGP.
He returned to kind with an emotional total victory on the final spherical in Finland, amazingly Gilera’s solely ever 250cc GP win, and Marc’s final one as properly. For the third time he was 4th on this planet. Together with his Italian license he may journey for Staff Italy on the Trophee des Nations, and helped them to threerd total on the final ever working of the occasion, behind the USA and residential heroes Sweden, however forward of his native Belgium!
Marc was all set for one more season on Gilera in 1985, and had turned down a suggestion from reigning champs KTM to remain loyal, however a brand new boss taking up Gilera in December determined to cease all involvement in Motocross, and Velkeneers was left with just one choice, to take his #4 plate to the once-great however struggling Maico manufacturing facility. The bike was by no means aggressive, and his finest outcomes got here at his house spherical in Borgloon, with a 3rd within the first dry moto which our snapper Jack Burnicle calls “one of many best motos I ever noticed!”. 6th within the very muddy second one left him 4th total that day. He battled on and consistency noticed him to 9th within the sequence.
Gert-Jan van Doorn leads eventual winner Arno Dreschel and Velkeneers on this sensational scrap that snapper Jack Burnicle calls “one of many best I’ve ever seen”!
1986 noticed him again on a Yamaha, and though the bike was adequate to take the title for Jacky Vimond, Marc started the 12 months injured and solely as soon as, with a 2nd within the second moto of the Swiss GP, did he appear like recovering his previous pace. It was his final prime 3 in a world championship race.
Non-public Honda and beating the Hurricane!
Basic poise from sand grasp Velkeneers on the Nashua-sponsored Honda on the 1987 250cc Dutch GP.
A change to a personal Honda for 1987, together with his previous pal Geboers returning to the category on the HRC machine, didn’t see the return to kind that the 25-year-old was searching for. A 6th total was his finest in his favoured Dutch sand, and he labored arduous to grind out a top-ten championship end. There was one closing huge day awaiting him, nonetheless. Belgian Staff Supervisor Sylvain Geboers, additionally well-placed in Staff HRC as brother Eric had received the 250 title, secured a manufacturing facility HRC 125 for Marc to return to the eighth-litre class for the Motocross des Nations within the USA! He joined The Child and new 500cc World Champ Georges Jobe on the aircraft.
This was the notorious mud-fest at Unadilla, and Velkeneers lined up towards Davy Strijbos, Jean-Michel Bayle, and American legend Bob Hannah on the hard-thrashed 125s! Marc was at all times a grasp within the mud, and went properly when racing for his nation, really beating the Hurricane within the first moto on his method to a 3-3 rating for twond in school total! Jobe had taken the primary moto win and Belgium have been equal on factors with the Yanks going into the ultimate race, however an issue for Georges in that final moto value the Belgians a shot at an upset workforce win!
Marc himself would transfer to Kawasaki for one more 250cc marketing campaign in 1988, scoring a finest moto of 4th in Belgium once more, earlier than transferring to the five hundred class in 1989 and faring little higher. In 1990, nonetheless in inexperienced, he was constant sufficient to complete 15th within the standings. As he turned 30 on the finish of one other fruitless season on Honda in 1991, Marc was “now not motivated and at all times struggling setbacks, so determined to cease – too early!”. He nonetheless follows the game and labored not too long ago with the Gebben Van Venrooy MXGP workforce. Dwelling in Belgium nonetheless together with his spouse Nadine, his trophy cupboard is properly stocked and he’ll be remembered as an actual flyer in his day, who by no means fairly had the great fortune to go all the way in which.
The Numbers
You may’t beat the traditional Yamaha blocky jacket, as rocked by a teenage Marc Velkeneers in 1980.
Marc Velkeneers raced for the whole decade, and towards some wonderful opposition. Resulting from being from Belgium with their wealth of expertise, he solely acquired chosen for five Nations occasions – and a kind of was for Italy! His 124 counting occasions is the 5th highest in the whole record, and the truth that he received a kind of Nations occasions is an actual assist! 3 wins in a single season, 6 GP wins in whole, most of them towards the dominant Suzuki machines in early 80s 125cc GPs – are all large achievements in themselves. He was an enormous expertise who genuinely challenged for world titles towards among the finest riders of the whole decade, and he was splendidly open in answering my questions straight, so it’s an actual pleasure to have him in our record.
Subsequent time we function a probably controversial inclusion on the record, who shone very brightly in a really quick AMA profession!
Eighties Numbers:
GPs counted: 119 – 6 Wins
Nations Occasions: 5 – 1 Particular person Win
Complete: 124 Occasions, 7 Wins, Profitable Share 5.6
Season By Season:
Yr Class Report Champ Pos. Nations Particular person End
1980: 125cc GPs 11 rounds, 1 win 4th —
1981: 125cc GPs 12 rounds, 1 win 4th 18th Trophee dN
1982: 125cc GPs 12 rounds, 3 wins fifth 24th Coupe dN
1983: 125cc GPs 12 rounds, 0 wins sixth 1st Coupe dN
1984: 250cc GPs 12 rounds, 1 win 4th tenth Trophee dN (For Italy)
1985: 250cc GPs 12 rounds, 0 wins ninth —
1986: 250cc GPs 12 rounds, 0 wins twelfth —
1987: 250cc GPs 12 rounds, 0 wins tenth MXdN, 2nd 125cc Class
1988: 250cc GPs 12 rounds, 0 wins nineteenth —
1989: 500cc GPs 12 rounds, 0 wins twenty second —
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