Jan de Vries (motorcyclist)
Jan de Vries ( born January 5, 1944 in Sint Jacobiparochie, Netherlands ) is a Dutch former motorcycle racer.
In the years 1971 and 1973 he won the world title in the 50 cc class of the Motorcycle World Championship.
- 3.1 External links
- 3.2 Notes and references
Career
Jan de Vries debuted at his home Grand Prix in 1968 to Kreidler in the 50 cc class in the motorcycle world championship.
From 1969 he started for Kreidler permanently in the 50 cc World Championship. In his first season de Vries get five podium finishes in eight races and therefore the fourth place overall. 1970 drove the Dutch Grand Prix of Nations at Monza his first win and finished fifth in the overall standings. In the same year he also denied his only 125 cc Grand Prix; at his home race at Assen he reached here on MZ seventh.
In the 1971 season Jan de Vries dominated the often " Shot Glass Class " called 50 cc World Championship. He won five of the nine races held and was, because then only the five best results came in the standings, with the maximum score of 75 points on Kreidler world champion.
1972 was Jan de Vries after the last round of the 50 World Cup points with the Spanish Derbi pilots Ángel Nieto at the top of the overall standings. Since both drivers have the same number of wins and second places were on top of everything in the account, the respective race times of the pilots were added by the FIM. De Vries had finally 21 seconds behind in the cold.
In the season 1973, Jan de Vries secured his second 50 - cc world title. With five wins from five disputed race, he sat down on Kreidler Van Veen by his team- mate Bruno Kneubuehler from Switzerland. At the end of the season, he finished his career in the Motorcycle World Championship.
After ending his playing career Jan De Vries worked as a tuner of racing engines for Van Veen. Today, he is a frequent guest on many veterans race.