Georges Jobé (6 January 1961 – 19 December 2012) was a Belgian professional motocross racer. He competed in the FIM Motocross World Championships from 1979 to 1994. Jobé is notable for being a five-time FIM Motocross World Champion. He was named Belgian Sportsman of the year in 1987 and 1992.
Motocross career Early career Jobé was born in Retinne, Belgium on 6 January 1961. His older brother Claude Jobé competed in the motocross world championships for the Montesa factory racing team in the early 1970s. Jobé entered his first motocross race when he was 10-years-old. He won the 1977 250cc Belgian junior motocross championship riding a Montesa.
Suzuki factory team At the age of 18, Jobé joined the Suzuki racing team operated by former racer Sylvain Geboers. In his first year of international competition, he finished seventh in the 1979 250cc Motocross World Championship. Jobé won the 1980 250cc Motocross World Championship through sheer consistency. Eight different competitors won Grand Prix events during the season, however none of them were able to score points consistently to challenge Jobé. At 19 years, 6 months and 14 days, Jobé dethroned Joël Robert for the honorary title of youngest Motocross World Champion in history at the time. Jobé was the top individual points scorer at the 1980 Trophée des Nations as he led the Belgian team to victory in the team event. One week later at the 1980 Motocross des Nations event, he finished second to his Belgian teammate André Malherbe, helping the Belgian team to the overall victory.
Jobé led the 1981 250cc Motocross World Championship by 53 points over his closest rival, Neil Hudson (Yamaha) with four rounds remaining and appeared to be heading towards a second consecutive World Championship when he was injured while competing in a Belgian National Championship race. He attempted to compete in the penultimate round in Russia but was injured again, allowing Hudson to overtake him and win the World Championship by only two points in the final standings.
Jobé once again led the 250cc Motocross World Championship in 1982 when he suffered an elbow fracture at mid-season during the 250cc French Grand Prix. Danny LaPorte (Yamaha) then won three consecutive Grand Prix races to take the championship points lead from Jobé. The championship would not be decided until the last race of the season in Sweden where LaPorte finished ahead of Jobé by 13 points. Jobé began the 1983 250cc Motocross World Championship by winning 5 of the first 6 heat races to build a commanding 60-point lead. He then posted consistent results to maintain his points lead and clinch the title over LaPorte with two rounds remaining.
500cc class Suzuki's decision to withdraw from the Motocross World Championships at the end of the 1983 season due to a worldwide economic recession led Jobé to sign a contract to race for the Kawasaki factory racing team in the premier 500cc motocross world championship. The 1984 500cc Motocross World Championship featured one of the most talented field of competitors of the 1980s including all three of the previous year's world champions – Håkan Carlqvist (500cc), Jobé (250cc) and Eric Geboers (125cc). Jobé was challenged by the powerful Honda HRC team of Malherbe, David Thorpe and Geboers as well as Yamaha's defending 500cc World Champion Carlqvist. Jobé fought Malherbe and Geboers in a tight points battle that would not be decided until the last race of the season in Italy where Malherbe succeeded in maintaining his points lead and clinched his third 500cc Motocross World Championship by just 11 points over Jobé.
Jobé accomplished one of the most audacious passes in motocross history during the 1984 500cc British Motocross Grand Prix, held at Hawkstone Park, Shropshire, England. In 1984, the Hawkstone Park circuit included a large "double jump" (before they were customary on top motocross circuits). Few riders had the courage to attempt to clear the jump during practice, let alone during the actual race. However, during the second race of the Grand Prix, Jobé passed rival André Malherbe by clearing the double jump, physically jumping over his rival in the process. Photographer Nick Haskell captured the moment, and the image of Jobé flying over Malherbe with spectators cheering in the background, is considered by motorsports journalists to be one of the most iconic images of Grand Prix motocross racing.
Jobé represented Belgium at the 1984 International Six Days Trial (ISDT) in Holland.America's Team, American Motorcyclist, October 1984, Vol. 38, No. 10, The International Six Days Trial, now known as the International Six Days Enduro, is a form of off-road motorcycle Olympics which is the oldest annual competition sanctioned by the FIM dating back to 1913.
Jobé dropped to fourth in the 1985 500cc Motocross World Championship as the powerful factory Honda team of Thorpe, Malherbe and Geboers swept the top three positions in the points standings. The 1986 500cc World Championship was a repeat of the previous season with Jobé facing off against the factory Honda trio in a season-long battle that wasn't decided until the final round. Jobé was the strongest competitor in the second half of the season, winning 6 of the last 8 heat races. Entering the last race in Luxembourg, the four competitors were separated by only 20 points with Thorpe in first place holding a three-point lead over Malherbe with Geboers and Jobé close behind. Jobé won the final race however, Thorpe was able to score a second-place finish to clinch his second consecutive World Championship. Thorpe won the title with 316 points, while Jobe had 296 points to finish the season in fourth-place.
Thorpe began the 1987 500cc Motocross World Championship season with three consecutive victories in the Spanish, French and Austrian Grands Prix to take the championship points lead, however he then suffered an injury while competing in the British National Championship. Thorpe's injury allowed Jobé to take the championship points lead with four Grand Prix victories and claim his first 500cc World Championship by more than 50 points over second place Kurt Nicoll (KTM). Jobé's 1987 500cc championship was notable as he won riding a privateer Honda CR500. Most of his rivals were on the official works teams of Honda, Kawasaki or KTM.
Having won 250 and 500cc titles, Jobé competed in the 1988 125cc World Championship in an attempt to become the first competitor in history to win the "Triple Crown" (FIM 125, 250 and 500cc world titles). He was unsuccessful, as countryman Eric Geboers became the first to achieve the feat by winning the 500cc World championship in that same year (Geboers having previously won world 125 and 250cc titles).
Jobé suffered through two injury plagued seasons in 1989 and 1990 as Honda teammates Thorpe and Geboers dominated the 500cc World Championships. In the 1991 500cc Motocross World Championship, Jobé took the championship points lead at mid-season after early points leader Kurt Nicoll (KTM) withdrew due to injuries. Jobé then fought off a challenge from Jacky Martens (KTM) to win his second 500cc World Championship despite only winning one Grand Prix race all season.
The FIM introduced a new Grand Prix format for the 1991 500cc Motocross World Championship with three 25-minute heat races as opposed to the traditional format of two 45-minute heat races. Due to lack of financial support, Jobé had only planned to compete in a few Grand Prix races. However, after taking the early championship points lead he ended up competing in the entire series, battling Nicoll (KTM) and Billy Lilles (Honda) all the way to the final race of the season. Despite five Grand Prix victories by Nicoll compared to only two for Jobé, he was able to outscore Nicoll by a mere 2 points to secure his fifth World Championship.
He joined Joël Robert, Roger De Coster and Eric Geboers as the only competitors at the time with five or more Motocross World Championships. Jobé rode a Honda in a selected few races during the 1992 and 1993 500cc World Championships. He competed in his final World Championship race at the 1993 500cc French Grand Prix at the age of 33.
Career overview Jobé won 57 individual heat races (28-250cc, 29-500cc) and 30 Grand Prix victories (17-250cc, 13 500cc) during his world championship racing career. He won two 250cc Motocross World Championships (1980, 1983) and three 500cc Motocross World Championships (1987, 1991, 1992). He was also a seven-time Belgian Motocross National Champion (1980-1984, 1988, 1989). Jobé was a member of eight Belgian Motocross des Nations teams (1980, 1982-1984, 1986-1987, 1989, 1992) and four Trophée des Nations teams (1980, 1982-1984).
Later life Jobé retired from competition after winning his fifth world championship in 1992. In 2006 he was signed by KTM to help start their racing program, coaching riders such as Mickaël Pichon, Sébastien Tortelli and Jonathan Barragán. In 2007 Jobé was coaching young riders in Dubai when he crashed and became paralyzed. After a period of rehabilitation, he was able to walk again however, in April 2011 he was diagnosed with leukemia. Jobé died from his illness in Brussels on 19 December 2012 at the age of 51.
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 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 1979 250cc Suzuki ESP- ESP- NED- NED8 ITA9 ITA- BEL- BEL5 YUG6 YUG8 CZE- CZE3 POL7 POL2 FRA3 FRA- FIN4 FIN- USA9 USA- GER9 GER- BUL9 BUL9 7th 71 1980 250cc Suzuki ESP4 ESP4 CZE4 CZE3 GER- GER2 BEL1 BEL1 POL4 POL3 USR4 USR2 UK2 UK1 FRA3 FRA3 NED3 NED4 USA2 USA2 FIN- FIN8 SWE2 SWE- 1st 218 1981 250cc Suzuki FRA5 FRA2 ESP1 ESP1 AUT4 AUT1 ITA1 ITA1 CZE1 CZE1 BUL5 BUL1 CH1 CH1 UK2 UK- GER2 GER1 USA- USA- USR2 USR- NED- NED- 2nd 233 1982 250cc Suzuki CH1 CH1 ESP5 ESP2 BEL1 BEL2 CZE1 CZE- ITA3 ITA4 FRA- FRA- UK4 UK- NED2 NED2 USR2 USR1 USA5 USA5 FIN2 FIN2 SWE2 SWE3 2nd 225 1983 250cc Suzuki ESP1 ESP2 FRA1 FRA1 ITA- ITA- NED1 NED1 BUL1 BUL2 GER4 GER1 UK1 UK2 CAN2 CAN2 USA3 USA4 CH2 CH4 SWE4 SWE- FIN1 FIN- 1st 249 1984 500cc Kawasaki AUT3 AUT1 CH2 CH1 ESP5 ESP4 FRA3 FRA4 SWE2 SWE3 GER3 GER4 NED3 NED3 USA- USA7 CAN1 CAN1 UK2 UK3 BEL4 BEL2 ITA2 ITA2 2nd 359 1985 500cc Kawasaki AUT7 AUT9 FRA- FRA10 SWE3 SWE- FIN9 FIN3 ITA- ITA3 ESP2 ESP2 NED3 NED2 USA3 USA3 UK- UK3 BEL3 BEL- LUX- LUX- CH5 CH4 4th 224 1986 500cc Kawasaki CH- CH- AUT9 AUT3 NED1 NED- SWE- SWE- FIN6 FIN3 GER2 GER2 CAN5 CAN3 USA8 USA7 FRA1 FRA1 UK1 UK2 BEL1 BEL1 LUX3 LUX1 4th 296 1987 500cc Honda ESP14 ESP3 FRA2 FRA12 AUT6 AUT4 FIN3 FIN1 SWE8 SWE5 GER1 GER1 ITA2 ITA1 UK2 UK1 NED5 NED1 BEL1 BEL- LUX5 LUX4 CH- CH- 1st 304 1988 125cc Honda ITA12 ITA9 BEL5 BEL5 NED3 NED8 AUT- AUT10 ESP9 ESP- POR5 POR- CZE4 CZE4 GER5 GER4 IRL- IRL- FRA14 FRA- FIN- FIN- CH- CH- 10th 132 1989 500cc Honda NED9 NED14 FRA5 FRA- AUT- AUT- ITA7 ITA- FIN2 FIN3 SWE3 SWE3 USA6 USA6 SM- SM7 UK3 UK10 BEL- BEL7 LUX- LUX3 CH3 CH- 6th 180 1990 500cc Yamaha NED3 NED- CH14 CH- AUT- AUT- FRA9 FRA9 FIN10 FIN12 ITA12 ITA7 UK- UK- GER- GER- SM15 SM- BEL8 BEL- LUX9 LUX- USA- USA- 14th 70 1991 500cc Honda CH4 CH4 AUT- AUT- FIN8 FIN2 SWE4 SWE2 FRA2 FRA3 NED- NED- ITA1 ITA1 UK10 UK1 GER1 GER- BEL3 BEL1 LUX3 LUX2 USA3 USA3 1st 296Sources: