John Banks

John Banks (born 16 April 1944) is a British former professional motocross racer. He competed in the Motocross World Championships from 1963 to 1977. A four-time 500cc British national champion, Banks was twice runner-up in the 500cc motocross world championship.

Motorcycle racing career Banks was the son of a successful builder from Bury St Edmunds. His first motorcycle was a Greeves trials motorcycle that he bought from Dave Bickers, the 1960 and 1961 European motocross champion. He won the 1967–68 BBC Grandstand winter series to claim his first major victory.

The fifth 500cc Grand Prix event of the year would be held in Friedrichs' homeland of East Germany and, Communist authorities were eager to help an East German rider on a ČZ motorcycle built in a neighboring Communist country in order to demonstrate the inferiority of western capitalism. The East German Grand Prix was not attended by the majority of western European riders due to the difficulty in procuring visas and traveling behind the Iron Curtain. Banks would claim the championship points lead from Jonsson with a second place finish in Belgium as Jonsson suffered mechanical malfunctions. Banks finished third behind Vic Eastwood and Friedrichs at the penultimate round in Luxembourg. Banks actually scored more points overall but fell victim to FIM scoring rules which only recognized the top seven of thirteen results. The rules would be changed in 1977. In the face of the rapid development of two-stroke engine technology, the BSA factory was the last remaining manufacturer to compete in the World Championships with four-stroke engines

Banks began the 1969 season strongly with second place finishes at the season opening Austrian Grand Prix and in round 3 at the Dutch Grand Prix then, scored consecutive victories at the Czechoslovak and Russian Grands Prix. After finishing second to De Coster at the Belgian Grand Prix, his luck began to change.

Banks suffered a dislocated knee during the 1970 season that forced him to miss the world championships. By the late 1960s, advances in two stroke engine technology meant that the heavier, four stroke machines such as Banks' BSA, were becoming obsolete in the motocross world championships.

In the middle of the 1971 season, BSA announced that they were ceasing operations, leaving Banks unemployed. Despite the BSA's weight handicap, Banks still managed several top five placings in the world championships against lighter, two stroke motorcycles, including an impressive performance at the 1973 500cc United States Grand Prix in Southern California where, on the hard packed desert terrain, the explosive power delivery of two stroke engines put them at a disadvantage to more tractable power delivery of Banks' BSA.

After two seasons riding for Cheney, in 1975 Banks switched to CCM motorcycles, also powered by BSA engines. He managed some impressive results in 1977 including, a fourth place in Canada and an inspired performance at the 500cc British Grand Prix where he finished the second moto in second place behind Heikki Mikkola on a Yamaha and ahead of fellow countryman Graham Noyce on a Honda. 1977 would be his final season in the motocross world championships.

Banks won 10 individual heat races and 4 Grand Prix victories during his world championship racing career. He was a two-time 500cc Class Vice Champion (1968, 1969} and won four British Motocross Championships (1968, 1969, 1970, 1973).

Motocross Grand Prix Results

Points system from 1952 to 1968: Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th Points 8 6 4 3 2 1

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

Year Class Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 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 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1963 250cc Dot ESP10 ESP13 ITA- ITA- FRA9 FRA28 CH8 CH3 GER- GER- LUX- LUX13 NED- NED- UK3 UK- SWE- SWE- FIN- FIN- USR- USR- POL- POL- TCH- TCH- GDR- GDR- 13th 4 1967 500cc BSA AUT- AUT15 ITA- ITA- SWE- SWE- TCH- TCH- USR- USR- FRA- FRA- GER- GER- UK- UK- BEL9 BEL- LUX4 LUX6 CH10 CH3 5th 19 1968 500cc BSA AUT30 AUT1 ITA- ITA- SWE- SWE- FIN5 FIN1 GDR4 GDR4 TCH3 TCH2 UK- UK- GER8 GER4 FRA2 FRA1 NED1 NED1 BEL1 BEL4 LUX6 LUX2 CH3 CH5 2nd 41 1969 500cc BSA AUT7 AUT2 SWE- SWE- NED3 NED1 ITA- ITA3 TCH2 TCH1 USR1 USR2 GER- GER- BEL2 BEL1 LUX3 LUX- FRA- FRA- CH- CH- GDR7 GDR7 2nd 72 1970 500cc BSA CH5 CH- AUT- AUT- NED- NED- FRA- FRA- FIN- FIN- SWE- SWE- TCH- TCH- USR- USR- GER- GER- GDR- GDR- BEL- BEL- LUX- LUX- - 0 1971 500cc BSA ITA11 ITA10 AUT12 AUT3 SWE- SWE- FIN8 FIN- TCH8 TCH- USR5 USR- GDR3 GDR3 UK9 UK3 GER10 GER8 BEL- BEL- LUX- LUX- NED- NED- 7th 37 Husqvarna ITA- ITA- AUT- AUT- SWE- SWE- FIN- FIN- TCH- TCH- USR- USR- GDR- GDR- UK- UK- GER- GER- BEL6 BEL4 LUX9 LUX9 NED- NED- 1972 500cc ČZ AUT- AUT- CH8 CH6 SWE7 SWE9 FRA8 FRA- USR- USR- TCH9 TCH6 UK17 UK- GER6 GER- GDR- GDR- BEL- BEL- LUX- LUX- 13th 16 1973 500cc Cheney-BSA FRA- FRA- AUT- AUT- FIN- FIN- ITA- ITA4 TCH- TCH- USA3 USA4 GER- GER- BEL4 BEL- LUX9 LUX- NED- NED- 11th 36 1974 500cc CCM AUT- AUT- FRA- FRA- ITA- ITA- DEN- DEN7 TCH- TCH- GER- GER8 UK- UK- USA- USA- NED- NED- BEL- BEL- LUX5 LUX- 15th 13 1976 500cc CCM CH- CH- FRA- FRA- ITA- ITA- AUT- AUT- SWE- SWE- FIN- FIN- GER- GER- USA- USA- CAN- CAN- UK5 UK- BEL- BEL- LUX- LUX- 27th 6 1977 500cc CCM AUT- AUT- NED9 NED- SWE- SWE- FIN10 FIN- GER- GER8 ITA6 ITA5 USA- USA10 CAN7 CAN5 UK2 UK- BEL- BEL10 LUX- LUX- CH- CH- 11th 41Sources: