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

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. 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. He ended the season ranked fifth in the 500 class. Van Velthoven actually scored enough points to finish the season ranked second overall but fell victim to FIM scoring rules at the time which only recognized the top seven of twelve results. The rules would be changed in 1977.

Van Velthoven's best individual performance was a third place in the 500cc World Championship in 1973. He helped Yamaha develop a revolutionary motorcycle rear suspension that used a single shock absorber (invented by the Belgian engineer Lucien Tilkens)Magazine Moto73 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. Malherbe went on to become a three-time 500cc Motocross World Champion for the Honda factory team. Van Velthoven competed in his final World Championship race at the 1985 500cc Swiss Grand Prix at the age of 34.

Van Velthoven won 4 individual heat races and 5 Grand Prix victories during his world championship racing career. Although he never won a Motocross World Championship, he was a three-time Belgian Motocross National Champion (1967, 1971, 1973). 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).

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 AUT8 AUT12 SWE9 SWE- NED- NED- ITA- ITA- CZE12 CZE- USR- USR- GER- GER- BEL13 BEL17 LUX18 LUX- FRA- FRA- CH10 CH7 GDR- GDR- 23rd 6 1970 500cc Husqvarna CH11 CH4 AUT14 AUT11 NED8 NED4 FRA10 FRA20 FIN13 FIN9 SWE9 SWE8 CZE13 CZE6 USR- USR- GER10 GER8 GDR12 GDR8 BEL4 BEL5 LUX8 LUX5 9th 35 1971 500cc Husqvarna ITA7 ITA- AUT4 AUT27 SWE16 SWE6 FIN22 FIN5 CZE6 CZE3 USR- USR- GDR9 GDR5 UK6 UK5 GER9 GER7 BEL- BEL5 LUX- LUX- NED4 NED4 9th 32 1972 500cc Yamaha AUT- AUT- CH- CH- SWE5 SWE6 FRA10 FRA6 USR4 USR- CZE5 CZE4 UK4 UK2 GER5 GER2 GDR6 GDR6 BEL4 BEL3 LUX2 LUX2 5th 57 1973 500cc Yamaha FRA2 FRA- AUT- AUT- FIN2 FIN2 ITA- ITA- CZE3 CZE3 USA4 USA3 GER10 GER6 BEL5 BEL2 LUX2 LUX3 NED2 NED3 3rd 122 1974 500cc Yamaha AUT10 AUT- FRA5 FRA5 ITA5 ITA5 DEN3 DEN- CZE10 CZE- GER- GER- UK1 UK2 USA3 USA5 NED4 NED- BEL- BEL4 LUX2 LUX3 5th 109 1975 500cc Yamaha CH- CH10 ITA4 ITA3 FIN5 FIN4 USR- USR6 FRA4 FRA3 USA- USA- CAN- CAN- UK3 UK- GER5 GER- NED- NED- BEL3 BEL3 LUX2 LUX- 5th 104 1976 500cc KTM CH- CH- FRA- FRA6 ITA10 ITA- AUT- AUT- SWE7 SWE- FIN- FIN- GER3 GER- USA6 USA9 CAN5 CAN4 UK- UK5 BEL6 BEL3 LUX1 LUX1 7th 92 1977 500cc KTM AUT5 AUT4 NED8 NED- SWE7 SWE9 FIN- FIN- GER7 GER6 ITA10 ITA7 USA- USA9 CAN8 CAN7 UK6 UK8 BEL- BEL- LUX- LUX- CH1 CH2 7th 81 1978 500cc KTM CH3 CH6 AUT5 AUT- FRA10 FRA7 DEN7 DEN6 FIN6 FIN- SWE5 SWE- USA8 USA- ITA- ITA- UK- UK5 BEL- BEL4 LUX- LUX6 NED6 NED6 8th 78 1979 250cc KTM ESP10 ESP10 NED- NED6 ITA4 ITA9 BEL6 BEL4 YUG- YUG- CZE- CZE8 POL- POL7 FRA5 FRA- FIN- FIN- USA- USA- GER- GER10 BUL6 BUL2 9th 61 1980 500cc KTM CH- CH6 AUT- AUT- FRA- FRA- SWE- SWE- FIN8 FIN8 ITA- ITA7 NED8 NED5 USA- USA9 CAN6 CAN8 GER10 GER- BEL9 BEL5 LUX- LUX- 10th 43 1981 500cc KTM AUT- AUT3 CH6 CH6 FIN- FIN5 SWE8 SWE6 ITA6 ITA6 FRA5 FRA9 USA- USA- UK4 UK- NED- NED- CZE7 CZE7 BEL- BEL6 LUX7 LUX5 8th 83 1982 500cc KTM FRA- FRA5 NED4 NED4 SWE- SWE8 FIN- FIN- AUT6 AUT10 ITA- ITA- GER- GER9 USA- USA9 CAN- CAN- UK5 UK8 BEL- BEL- LUX- LUX- 11th 44 1983 500cc KTM CH7 CH8 AUT9 AUT- GER- GER8 SWE- SWE- FIN- FIN- ITA- ITA- USA- USA- FRA7 FRA3 UK8 UK6 BEL- BEL9 SM- SM- NED7 NED3 10th 50 1984 500cc KTM AUT6 AUT- CH- CH- ESP- ESP- FRA- FRA- SWE- SWE- GER- GER- NED9 NED- USA- USA- CAN- CAN- UK14 UK5 BEL10 BEL6 ITA13 ITA13 14th 47 1985 500cc KTM AUT10 AUT- FRA- FRA7 SWE14 SWE8 FIN- FIN9 ITA- ITA15 ESP- ESP- NED14 NED- USA- USA- UK- UK- BEL- BEL9 LUX12 LUX11 CH11 CH8 15th 64Sources:

References