Håkan Carlqvist

Håkan Carlqvist (15 January 1954 – 6 July 2017) was a Swedish professional motocross racer. He competed in the FIM Motocross World Championships from 1974 to 1988. Carlqvist was a two-time Motocross World Champion known for his fierce competitiveness and fiery temperament. He was one of the last in a long line of Swedish World Champions such as Bill Nilsson, Sten Lundin, Rolf Tibblin and Torsten Hallman who dominated international motocross racing during the early formative years of the sport.

Biography Early racing career Håkan Carlqvist was born on 15 January 1954 in the Järfälla Municipality just outside of Stockholm, Sweden, As a youth, he excelled in multiple sports such as ice hockey, football, and downhill skiing. He began riding a 125cc street motorcycle at the age of 16 and within a year, he had progressed to riding a KTM enduro motorcycle.

Despite his lackluster season, the Husqvarna factory offered Carlqvist a factory prepared motorcycle along with mechanic Tommy Jansson for the 1979 season. He also won the 1979 Le Touquet beach race. At the 1979 Trophée des Nations event held in Barkarby, Sweden, Carlqvist was once again the top individual points scorer.

Yamaha factory team Carlqvist joined the Yamaha factory racing team for the 1980 season, replacing Heikki Mikkola who had made the decision to retire from competition. He was also the top individual points scorer at the 1981 Motocross des Nations event held in Bielstein, West Germany.

In 1982, he suffered a broken arm in a pre-season accident forcing him to miss the opening rounds and he ended the season in seventh place. In the 1983 500cc World Championship, Carlqvist's main competitors were the Honda teammates Graham Noyce and the defending champion André Malherbe. Noyce faded in the second half of the season as Carlqvist and Malherbe continued to battle back and forth in one of the hardest fought championships in several years. The championship wasn't decided until the final race of the year in Holland where Carlqvist prevailed to win the 500cc World Championship by seven points over Malherbe. He was the first Swedish competitor to win the premier motocross class since Bengt Åberg in 1970.

The 1984 500cc Motocross World Championship featured one of the most talented field of competitors of the 1980s. The 1984 season is prominent for featuring all three of the previous year's world champions – Carlqvist (500cc), Georges Jobé (250cc) and Eric Geboers (125cc). Unfortunately, another injury during the 1984 World Championship stopped Carlqvist from defending his title. The setting of the Belgian Grand Prix was a rugged, narrow track in the forests surrounding the picturesque hilltop Citadel of Namur. First held in 1947, the Namur Grand Prix was revered by motocross enthusiasts in the same manner that auto racing enthusiasts considered the Monaco Grand Prix to be the crown jewel of the Formula One season. Carlqvist had won the first heat race and was leading the second heat race by over thirty seconds when, he stopped trackside where his brother was holding out a can of beer. Carlqvist proceeded to drink the beer as the spectators cheered his display of bravado.

Motocross Grand Prix Results

Points system from 1969 to 1983:

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points 15 12 10 8 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 1974 250cc Husqvarna ESP- ESP- ITA- ITA- CZE- CZE- POL- POL- YUG- YUG- UK- UK- GER8 GER- NED- NED- FIN- FIN8 SWE- SWE10 CH- CH- 25th 7 1975 250cc Ossa ESP- ESP- AUT- AUT- BEL- BEL- CZE- CZE- POL- POL- YUG- YUG- GER8 GER5 UK8 UK- FRA- FRA- SWE- SWE- FIN10 FIN- CH9 CH9 23rd 111976250cc Ossa ESP8 ESP- BEL- BEL- CZE- CZE- POL6 POL9 USR- USR9 YUG- YUG8 ITA- ITA- FRA- FRA- UK- UK- GER- GER- 15th 32 Kawasaki NED6 NED- SWE5 SWE5 1977 250cc Husqvarna ESP4 ESP6 CH- CH5 BEL- BEL- CZE- CZE- ITA- ITA- AUT- AUT- USR- USR- YUG- YUG- GER- GER- UK7 UK- SWE- SWE- FIN- FIN- 17th 23 1978 250cc Husqvarna ESP- ESP1 ITA- ITA10 CZE8 CZE- YUG- YUG8 AUT- AUT9 GER5 GER8 UK5 UK- FRA3 FRA6 USA- USA8 SWE2 SWE5 FIN2 FIN4 USR8 USR- 7th 88 1979 250cc Husqvarna ESP2 ESP1 NED1 NED1 ITA- ITA1 BEL3 BEL1 YUG1 YUG5 CZE1 CZE1 POL1 POL1 FRA1 FRA1 FIN- FIN- USA- USA3 GER1 GER1 BUL- BUL- 1st 248 1980 500cc Yamaha CH3 CH3 AUT2 AUT2 FRA4 FRA- SWE2 SWE1 FIN- FIN- ITA10 ITA8 NED4 NED- USA2 USA- CAN2 CAN2 GER4 GER1 BEL4 BEL3 LUX4 LUX2 3rd 188 1981 500cc Yamaha AUT- AUT- CH1 CH4 FIN- FIN8 SWE3 SWE2 ITA5 ITA- FRA- FRA1 USA2 USA8 UK1 UK1 NED5 NED3 CZE3 CZE2 BEL3 BEL2 LUX1 LUX2 3rd 201 1982 500cc Yamaha FRA- FRA- NED- NED- SWE- SWE- FIN2 FIN8 AUT4 AUT- ITA3 ITA- GER1 GER- USA- USA- CAN- CAN- UK- UK- BEL8 BEL- LUX1 LUX1 8th 81 1983 500cc Yamaha CH4 CH- AUT1 AUT2 GER2 GER6 SWE1 SWE2 FIN4 FIN2 ITA1 ITA2 USA1 USA2 FRA- FRA2 UK1 UK1 BEL1 BEL2 SM3 SM1 NED6 NED4 1st 260 1984 500cc Yamaha AUT4 AUT2 CH4 CH- ESP3 ESP5 FRA- FRA- SWE- SWE- GER- GER- NED- NED- USA- USA- CAN- CAN- UK4 UK- BEL- BEL- ITA3 ITA5 10th 97 1985 500cc Yamaha AUT- AUT- FRA- FRA6 SWE- SWE- FIN8 FIN- ITA- ITA- ESP5 ESP6 NED- NED- USA- USA- UK- UK- BEL8 BEL3 LUX- LUX- CH- CH- 16th 62 1986 500cc Yamaha CH- CH- AUT2 AUT- NED6 NED- SWE4 SWE4 FIN3 FIN8 GER- GER7 CAN8 CAN- USA9 USA8 FRA11 FRA6 UK6 UK6 BEL- BEL- LUX4 LUX- 8th 156 1987 500cc Kawasaki ESP8 ESP2 FRA1 FRA6 AUT1 AUT- FIN- FIN6 SWE- SWE- GER- GER- ITA7 ITA- UK8 UK- NED- NED- BEL- BEL- LUX- LUX- CH- CH- 12th 102 1988 500cc Kawasaki AUT- AUT2 CH8 CH10 SWE2 SWE- FIN- FIN- GER- GER- ITA9 ITA3 USA12 USA15 UK- UK- NED- NED- SM- SM- BEL1 BEL1 LUX10 LUX2 10th 138Sources: