HÃ¥kan Andersson (motorcyclist)
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HÃ¥kan Andersson (born 29 June 1945) is a Swedish former professional
motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...
racer. He competed in the
Motocross World Championship The FIM Motocross World Championship is the premier championship of motocross racing, organized by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), divided into two distinct classes: MXGP and MX2. Race duration is 30 minutes plus two laps ...
s from 1966 to 1979. Andersson began his career as a member of the Husqvarna factory racing team before moving to the Yamaha team where he won the
FIM FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...
250cc Motocross World Championship in 1973.


Motocross racing career


Early racing

Andersson was born in
Uddevalla Uddevalla is a Stad (Sweden), town in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It’s the seat of Uddevalla Municipality. In 2015, it had a population of 34,781, making it the largest town fully in Bohuslän. Uddevalla is located where the river Bäveån ...
, on the west coast of
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
on 29 June 1945. As a young boy, his father took him to watch local motocross races where he idolized Swedish riders such as Bill Nilsson, Sten Lundin, and Rolf Tibblin who dominated the sport of motocross in the 1950s and 1960s. Andersson competed in his first motocross race in 1962 at the age of 16 riding a 175cc Husqvarna motorcycle. He later served in the Swedish military as a motorcycle
despatch rider A despatch rider (or dispatch) is a military messenger, mounted on horse or motorcycle (and occasionally in Egypt during World War I, on camels). In the UK 'despatch rider' is also a term used for a motorcycle courier. Despatch riders were use ...
. In 1963, he competed in the Junior Class of Swedish motocross racing and within three years he had advanced to the Senior Class. Andersson's hometown friend, Eje Skarin, also enjoyed motocross and followed him to races, eventually becoming his race mechanic for his entire motocross racing career.


Husqvarna team member

Andersson's racing success earned him support from the Husqvarna factory along with other Swedish racers such as Torsten Hallman,
Ã…ke Jonsson Ã…ke Jonsson (born 5 October 1942) is a Swedish former professional motocross racer. He competed in the Motocross World Championships from 1964 to 1978 as a member of the Husqvarna, Maico and Yamaha factory racing teams. Jonsson was part of ...
, Bengt Ã…berg and Arne Kring. Hallman, a four-time Motocross World Champion, became his racing mentor. At the age of 21, he competed in his first Motocross World Championship event at the
1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
250cc Swedish Grand Prix where he scored an impressive third place in the first heat race and was lying in third place in the second race when he had to abandon the race due to a tire puncture. When the Husqvarna team transferred Ã…ke Jonsson from the 250cc class to the 500cc class for the 1967 season, Andersson took his place competing in the 250cc class riding in support of the defending 250cc World Champion, Hallman. Hallman's main rival for the 1967 250cc World Championship was the
1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...
World Champion
Joël Robert Joël Robert (26 November 1943 – 13 January 2021) was a Belgian professional motocross racer. He competed in the Motocross World Championships from 1962 to 1976 when the sport experienced a surge in popularity worldwide. A six-time world champ ...
riding for the ČZ factory team. Robert was considered to be the fastest rider in the world, but his lackadaisical attitude towards physical fitness training as well as numerous mechanical issues had kept him from repeating his 1964 success. Andersson scored four consecutive third place finishes at the Swedish and Finnish Grand Prix races to end the 1967 season ranked sixth while his teammate Hallman won his fourth and final 250cc World Championship. Andersson was a member of the victorious Swedish team at the 1967 Trophée des Nations, however he suffered a serious leg injury during the event.


1968: Breakout year

At the 1968 season season opening Spanish Grand Prix, Andersson had retired from the first race, but showed his potential in the second race by catching and passing former World Champions Dave Bickers (ČZ) and Robert to finish in second place behind his teammate Hallman. At the second round in Belgium, he finished the first race in third place and then won the second race after Robert withdrew with an engine failure. Andersson then won the first overall victory of his career at the 1968 250cc Czechoslovakian Grand Prix where he decisively beat the previously dominant Robert in both races. In the French Grand Prix, he finished the first race in third place behind Robert and Hallman before defeating Robert once again in the second race. After the first four rounds of the World Championship, Andersson's impressive performance made him a strong contender for the title and placed him second to Robert by just two points in the championship points standings. However, Andersson's 1968 season came to an end at the fifth round in the Netherlands when he suffered a serious leg injury. He had passed Robert to take the lead of the second race when his handlebar broke causing him to crash and fracture his leg in three places. It was the same leg he had injured six months before at the 1967 Trophée des Nations event and his doctors told him that the injury was so serious that he would never ride a motorcycle again. Andersson was determined to resume his racing career but had a lengthy recovery that was complicated by a bad leg infection. After missing almost two years of racing including the entire 1969 season, he returned to race in the
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...
250cc World Championship, however he still hadn't fully recovered from his 1968 accident and was 13th in the final standings. By the 1971 season he had returned to top form, finishing on the
podium A podium (: podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used to raise people, for instance the conductor of a ...
in six of twelve rounds to place second in the 250cc World Championship behind Joël Robert, who was now riding for the
Suzuki is a Japanese multinational mobility manufacturer headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka. It manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a va ...
factory team. He helped Team Sweden take runner-up in the 1971 Trophée des Nations and he was also crowned Swedish National Champion.


Move to Yamaha team

Andersson's contract with Husqvarna expired at the end of the 1971 season so he took the opportunity to sign a contract to race for the Yamaha factory racing team replacing Torsten Hallman. Hallman had spent the previous season developing the new Yamaha YZ250 model before retiring from competition to take on a role with the Yamaha team as a development advisor. Andersson suffered a broken wrist while testing the Yamaha before the start of the 1972 season forcing him to miss the first three rounds. By midseason he had regained full strength and finished on the podium in six of the seven final Grand Prix races. He won the Swedish and Swiss Grand Prix races to end the year on a high note. Despite missing the early rounds, Andersson ended the season runner-up to Robert in the 250cc World Championship for a second consecutive year. In 1973, Yamaha introduced a new and innovative rear suspension with a single
shock absorber A shock absorber or damper is a mechanical or hydraulics, hydraulic device designed to absorb and Damping ratio, damp shock (mechanics), shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typic ...
that would revolutionize the sport of motocross. Andersson took advantage of the new suspension to claim six Grand Prix victories to win the 1973 250cc Motocross World Championship ahead of Adolf Weil (
Maico Maicowerk A.G., known by its trading name Maico () is the name of a family company in the Swabian town of Pfäffingen near Tübingen. Founded in 1926 by Ulrich Maisch as Maisch & Co, the company originally manufactured 98 and 123 cc Ilo tw ...
) and
Heikki Mikkola Heikki Antero Mikkola (born 6 July 1945) is a Finnish former professional motocross racer and motocross team manager. He competed in the Motocross World Championships from 1967 to 1979, most prominently as a member of the Husqvarna factory racin ...
(Husqvarna).Article on Hakan Andersson's championship winning Yamaha
.
His longtime mechanic, Eje Skarin, was instrumental in the development of the new motorcycle, working alongside the Japanese Yamaha engineers. Andersson's victory marked the first Motocross World Championship for the Yamaha factory team. At the season ending 1973
Motocross des Nations The Motocross of Nations (MXON), also known by its original French name (''MXDN'') is an annual team motocross race, where riders representing their country meet at what is billed as the " Olympics of Motocross". The event has been staged since ...
event, he helped Team Sweden take runner-up position behind the powerful Belgian team. Andersson suffered a serious back injury at the beginning of the 1974 season but came back late in the year to post a series of second place results to finish the season ranked sixth in the 250cc World Championship. He was also part of a Swedish victory at the 1974 Motocross of Nations for the first time in his career. 1974 would mark the last year that Sweden was the Motocross des Nations Champion. Andersson continued to be competitive in the 1975 250cc World Championship, however he would finish the season ranked second to
Puch Puch () is a manufacturing company located in Graz, Styria, Austria. The company was founded in 1899 by the industrialist Johann Puch and produced automobiles, bicycles, mopeds, and motorcycles. It was a subsidiary of the large Steyr-Daimler-Puch ...
factory rider Harry Everts who rode a motorcycle which featured an innovative twin carburetor system. It marked the third time in his racing career that Anderson was the 250cc class Vice-Champion.


Later career

In the wake of the
1973 oil crisis In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...
, sales of recreational vehicles decreased significantly, and Yamaha was forced to reduce their competition budget by withdrawing their racing team after the 1975 season. As all the other major motorcycle manufacturers had already signed their racers for the 1976 season, Andersson signed a contract to compete for the small, Spanish Montesa factory in the 250 class. In
1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...
, he rode a Montesa in the 500cc class. He returned to Husqvarna in the
1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
and
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
seasons in the 500cc class. Andersson was the top individual points scorer at the 1977 Motocross des Nations event. He retired from motocross competitions in 1979 at the age of 34. Andersson won 22 individual heat races and 10 Grand Prix victories during his world championship racing career. He won one 250cc Motocross World Championship (1973) and was a three-time 250cc class Vice Champion (1971, 1972, 1975). He won three 250cc Swedish national motocross championships (1971, 1972, 1974) and three 500cc Swedish national motocross championships (1977-1979). He was a member of the victorious Swedish Trophée des Nations team in 1967, and the victorious Swedish Motocross des Nations team in 1974. In retirement, Andersson continued to support his local Uddevalla motocross club, including helping to organize a Swedish round of the Motocross World Championships.


Motocross Grand Prix Results

Points system from 1952 to 1968: Points system from 1969 to 1980:


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andersson, HÃ¥kan 1945 births 20th-century Swedish sportsmen Living people Sportspeople from Uddevalla Swedish motocross riders