Jan de Vries (5 January 1944 – 14 January 2021) was a
Dutch Grand Prix motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...
road racer.
Career
In
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
he became the first Dutchman to win a
F.I.M. world championship
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...
when he claimed the
50 cc title. In
1973
Events January
* January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...
he won another 50 cc world championship.
He lost the
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
world championship to
Angel Nieto by the narrowest of margins. The two riders ended the season tied with 69 points and three victories apiece. The championship was decided on aggregate times, with Nieto given the title by mere seconds.
50cc racing
. Madmalc.screaming.net. Retrieved on 2016-07-25.
Gallery
File:50cc race. Links Jan de Vries , rechts Henk van Kessel lopen terug na valpartij., Bestanddeelnr 924-6804.jpg, Jan de Vries after a crash in Assen
Assen () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in ...
in 1971, to the right is Henk van Kessel.
File:Jan de Vries (Van Veen Kreidler).jpg, Jan de Vries on his 50cc racer 1971.
File:Jan de Vries en Jos Schurgers (1971).jpg, Jan de Vries and Jos Schurgers 1971.
File:Wim 005.JPG, Kreidler
Kreidler was a German manufacturer of bicycles, mopeds and motorcycles.
Kreidler was originally based in Kornwestheim, between Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian la ...
50cc racer.
References
External links
50cc racing page
Dutch motorcycle racers
50cc World Championship riders
125cc World Championship riders
Sportspeople from Friesland
People from Het Bildt
1944 births
2021 deaths
{{Netherlands-sport-bio-stub