Jaak van Velthoven

Jaak Van Velthoven
Nationality	Belgian
Born	24 January 1951 (1951-01-24) (age 74) Lommel, Belgium
Motocross career
Years active	1969–1985
Teams	Husqvarna, Yamaha, KTM
Wins	5

Jaak Van Velthoven (24 January 1951 ^[1] ) is a Belgian former professional motocross racer. ^[2] He competed in the FIM Motocross World Championships from 1969 to 1985.

Van Velthoven was born in Lommel, Belgium on 24 January 1951. At the age of 18, he competed in his first Motocross World Championship event at the 1969 500cc Austrian Grand Prix as a privateer aboard a Husqvarna motorcycle. Standing well over 6 feet tall, it was not difficult to distinguish him in the pack and he was often referred to as 'Long tall Jaak'. He won the first overall victory of his career with the Yamaha factory racing team at the 1972 500cc Luxembourg Grand Prix where he finished ahead of three-time World Champion Paul Friedrichs.

Van Velthoven's best individual performance was a third place in the 500cc World Championship in 1973. ^[3] He helped Yamaha develop a revolutionary motorcycle rear suspension that used a single shock absorber (invented by the Belgian engineer Lucien Tilkens) ^[4] instead of the traditional dual shock absorbers.

In the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, sales of recreational vehicles decreased significantly, and Yamaha was forced to reduce their competition budget by withdrawing their motocross and road racing teams after the 1975 season. Van Velthoven then became the Belgian importer for KTM motorcycles and competed at the World Championship level for another 10 years for the Austrian motorcycle company. In 1976, he sponsored André Malherbe to race in the 250cc World Championship. ^{[5] [6]} Malherbe went on to become a three-time 500cc Motocross World Champion. ^[5] Van Velthoven competed in his final World Championship race at the 1985 500cc Swiss Grand Prix at the age of 34. ^[1]

Van Velthoven won 4 individual heat races and 5 Grand Prix victories during his world championship racing career. ^[1] Although he never won a Motocross World Championship, he was a three-time Belgian Motocross National Champion (1967, 1971, 1973). ^[1] Van Velthoven was a member of four victorious Belgian teams at the Motocross des Nations (1972-1973, 1976-1977) and ten victorious Trophée des Nations teams (1969-1978). ^[1]

Motocross Grand Prix Results

Points system from 1969 to 1980:

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Points	15	12	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

Points system from 1984:

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th
Points	20	17	15	13	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

Year	Class	Team	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		Pos	Pts
			R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
1969	500cc	Husqvarna	AUT 8	AUT 12	SWE 9	SWE -	NED -	NED -	ITA -	ITA -	CZE 12	CZE -	USR -	USR -	GER -	GER -	BEL 13	BEL 17	LUX 18	LUX -	FRA -	FRA -	CH 10	CH 7	GDR -	GDR -	23rd	6
1970	500cc	Husqvarna	CH 11	CH 4	AUT 14	AUT 11	NED 8	NED 4	FRA 10	FRA 20	FIN 13	FIN 9	SWE 9	SWE 8	CZE 13	CZE 6	USR -	USR -	GER 10	GER 8	GDR 12	GDR 8	BEL 4	BEL 5	LUX 8	LUX 5	9th	35
1971	500cc	Husqvarna	ITA 7	ITA -	AUT 4	AUT 27	SWE 16	SWE 6	FIN 22	FIN 5	CZE 6	CZE 3	USR -	USR -	GDR 9	GDR 5	UK 6	UK 5	GER 9	GER 7	BEL -	BEL 5	LUX -	LUX -	NED 4	NED 4	9th	32
1972	500cc	Yamaha	AUT -	AUT -	CH -	CH -	SWE 5	SWE 6	FRA 10	FRA 6	USR 4	USR -	CZE 5	CZE 4	UK 4	UK 2	GER 5	GER 2	GDR 6	GDR 6	BEL 4	BEL 3	LUX 2	LUX 2			5th	57
1973	500cc	Yamaha	FRA 2	FRA -	AUT -	AUT -	FIN 2	FIN 2	ITA -	ITA -	CZE 3	CZE 3	USA 4	USA 3	GER 10	GER 6	BEL 5	BEL 2	LUX 2	LUX 3	NED 2	NED 3					3rd	122
1974	500cc	Yamaha	AUT 10	AUT -	FRA 5	FRA 5	ITA 5	ITA 5	DEN 3	DEN -	CZE 10	CZE -	GER -	GER -	UK 1	UK 2	USA 3	USA 5	NED 4	NED -	BEL -	BEL 4	LUX 2	LUX 3			5th	109
1975	500cc	Yamaha	CH -	CH 10	ITA 4	ITA 3	FIN 5	FIN 4	USR -	USR 6	FRA 4	FRA 3	USA -	USA -	CAN -	CAN -	UK 3	UK -	GER 5	GER -	NED -	NED -	BEL 3	BEL 3	LUX 2	LUX -	5th	104
1976	500cc	KTM	CH -	CH -	FRA -	FRA 6	ITA 10	ITA -	AUT -	AUT -	SWE 7	SWE -	FIN -	FIN -	GER 3	GER -	USA 6	USA 9	CAN 5	CAN 4	UK -	UK 5	BEL 6	BEL 3	LUX 1	LUX 1	7th	92
1977	500cc	KTM	AUT 5	AUT 4	NED 8	NED -	SWE 7	SWE 9	FIN -	FIN -	GER 7	GER 6	ITA 10	ITA 7	USA -	USA 9	CAN 8	CAN 7	UK 6	UK 8	BEL -	BEL -	LUX -	LUX -	CH 1	CH 2	7th	81
1978	500cc	KTM	CH 3	CH 6	AUT 5	AUT -	FRA 10	FRA 7	DEN 7	DEN 6	FIN 6	FIN -	SWE 5	SWE -	USA 8	USA -	ITA -	ITA -	UK -	UK 5	BEL -	BEL 4	LUX -	LUX 6	NED 6	NED 6	8th	78
1979	250cc	KTM	ESP 10	ESP 10	NED -	NED 6	ITA 4	ITA 9	BEL 6	BEL 4	YUG -	YUG -	CZE -	CZE 8	POL -	POL 7	FRA 5	FRA -	FIN -	FIN -	USA -	USA -	GER -	GER 10	BUL 6	BUL 2	9th	61
1980	500cc	KTM	CH -	CH 6	AUT -	AUT -	FRA -	FRA -	SWE -	SWE -	FIN 8	FIN 8	ITA -	ITA 7	NED 8	NED 5	USA -	USA 9	CAN 6	CAN 8	GER 10	GER -	BEL 9	BEL 5	LUX -	LUX -	10th	43
1981	500cc	KTM	AUT -	AUT 3	CH 6	CH 6	FIN -	FIN 5	SWE 8	SWE 6	ITA 6	ITA 6	FRA 5	FRA 9	USA -	USA -	UK 4	UK -	NED -	NED -	CZE 7	CZE 7	BEL -	BEL 6	LUX 7	LUX 5	8th	83
1982	500cc	KTM	FRA -	FRA 5	NED 4	NED 4	SWE -	SWE 8	FIN -	FIN -	AUT 6	AUT 10	ITA -	ITA -	GER -	GER 9	USA -	USA 9	CAN -	CAN -	UK 5	UK 8	BEL -	BEL -	LUX -	LUX -	11th	44
1983	500cc	KTM	CH 7	CH 8	AUT 9	AUT -	GER -	GER 8	SWE -	SWE -	FIN -	FIN -	ITA -	ITA -	USA -	USA -	FRA 7	FRA 3	UK 8	UK 6	BEL -	BEL 9	SM -	SM -	NED 7	NED 3	10th	50
1984	500cc	KTM	AUT 6	AUT -	CH -	CH -	ESP -	ESP -	FRA -	FRA -	SWE -	SWE -	GER -	GER -	NED 9	NED -	USA -	USA -	CAN -	CAN -	UK 14	UK 5	BEL 10	BEL 6	ITA 13	ITA 13	14th	47
1985	500cc	KTM	AUT 10	AUT -	FRA -	FRA 7	SWE 14	SWE 8	FIN -	FIN 9	ITA -	ITA 15	ESP -	ESP -	NED 14	NED -	USA -	USA -	UK -	UK -	BEL -	BEL 9	LUX 12	LUX 11	CH 11	CH 8	15th	64
Sources: [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23]

References

1. "Jaak van Velthoven career statistics" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
2. "Jaak Van Velthoven career profile". bestsports.com. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
3. "1973 500cc Motocross World Championship final standings". memotocross.fr. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
4. Magazine Moto73
5. "Jack Burnicle looks back at Andre Malherbe's remarkable career". dirtbikerider.com. 19 November 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
6. "André Malherbe: a life full of struggle". mxmag.net. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
7. "1969 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
8. "1970 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
9. "1971 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
10. "1972 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
11. "1973 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
12. "1974 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
13. "1975 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
14. "1976 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
15. "1977 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
16. "1978 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
17. "1979 250cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
18. "1980 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
19. "1981 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
20. "1982 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
21. "1983 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
22. "1984 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
23. "1985 500cc motocross world championship race classifications" (PDF). memotocross.fr. Retrieved 4 December 2025.