André Malherbe (21 March 1956 – 24 November 2022) was a Belgian professional Grand Prix motocross racer. He competed in the Motocross World Championships from 1975 to 1986, most prominently as a member of the Honda factory racing team where he won three FIM 500cc Motocross World Championships. In 1984, Malherbe was named the recipient of the Belgian National Sports Merit Award.
Racing career Early racing Born in Huy, the son of a motorcycle dealer, Malherbe began racing at an early age and earned his racing licence in 1973. He rode a Zündapp to win the 1973 FIM 125cc European motocross championship, and repeated as champion in 1974. In 1975, the FIM upgraded the 125cc European Championship to World Championship status. Despite winning two consecutive 125cc European titles, Malherbe failed to attract attention from larger motorcycle manufacturers so he continued to compete aboard a Zündapp in the 125cc class. He suffered an injury early in the year which forced him miss much of the season, yet still finished the year ranked seventh in the 1975 125cc World Championship.
KTM team member In 1976 Malherbe signed a contract to race in the 250cc World Championship for the Belgian KTM importer and Grand Prix motocross racer Jaak van Velthoven. He won the first overall victory of his career at the 1977 250cc West German Grand Prix and, ended the season completing a KTM sweep of the 1977 250cc World Championship behind his Russian KTM teammates Gennady Moiseyev and Vladimir Kavinov. Malherbe ended the year helping the Belgian team win the 1977 500cc Motocross des Nations event held in Cognac, France and the 1977 250cc Trophée des Nations event in Markelo, Holland.
KTM entered Malherbe into the 500cc World Championship for the 1978 season. Malherbe was in fourth place in the championship after the first five rounds before the KTM factory suffered supply chain issues and struggled to provide Malherbe with enough spare parts as he finished the season as the highest scoring KTM rider in sixth place.
Honda factory team Malherbe joined the Honda HRC factory racing team for the 1979 season to replace Brad Lackey who left to join the Kawasaki factory team. He won the final two Grand Prix races of the year and ended the season in third-place just one point behind runner up Gerrit Wolsink (Suzuki) as his Honda teammate Graham Noyce claimed the 500cc World Championship. He was a member of the Belgian team that won the 1979 Motocross des Nations event in Vantaa, Finland.
Malherbe faced a strong field of competitors in the 1980 season including the defending champion Noyce, five-time World Champion De Coster (Honda), Lackey (Kawasaki) and the 1979 250cc World Champion Håkan Carlqvist (Yamaha) as well as talented newcomer André Vromans (Yamaha). The season was dominated by Malherbe and Lackey as the two riders traded the top two positions in the points standing several times during a season-long battle for the 500cc World Championship. The championship wasn't decided until the final race of the year in Luxembourg with Malherbe holding a slim one-point lead in the championship. Lackey suffered two crashes in Luxembourg which allowed Malherbe to win the world championship with Lackey finishing in second place. Malherbe was also the top individual points scorer at the 1980 Motocross des Nations event where he led the Belgian team to victory.
Malherbe fought another season-long duel in 1981, this time with his Honda teammate Noyce who had missed most of the 1980 season with a broken leg. As in 1980, the championship wasn't decided until the final race in Luxembourg where Malherbe would prevail to score his second consecutive World Championship. The 1982 season saw a revival of Malherbe's rivalry with Lackey who was now riding for the Suzuki factory team. Malherbe won the season opening round in France, but then failed to score points in the second round. Lackey took the championship points lead after winning the Austrian Grand Prix, but Malherbe responded with two consecutive victories in Italy and West Germany to close the points gap to just three-points at mid-season. However, Malherbe crashed and broke his leg at the 500cc United States Grand Prix which forced him to miss the rest of the season. Lackey proceeded to claim the title to become the first American competitor to win a 500cc Motocross World Championship.
In the 1983 500cc World Championship, Malherbe's main competitors were his Honda teammate Noyce and the 1979 250cc World Champion Håkan Carlqvist riding for the Yamaha factory team. Lackey made the decision to retire after the Suzuki factory withdrew their team from the championship. 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. Just as in the 1980 and 1981 seasons, the World Championship wasn't decided until the final race of the year in Holland where Carlqvist prevailed to win the World Championship by seven points over Malherbe.
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), Georges Jobé (250cc) and Eric Geboers (125cc). Besides having to compete against the three defending World Champions Carlqvist (Yamaha), Jobé (Kawasaki) and Geboers (Honda), he also had to contend with his Honda teammates Noyce and newcomer David Thorpe. Thorpe won the first 500cc Grand Prix race of his career at the 1984 500cc Swedish Grand Prix to take the championship points lead however, he would be overtaken by Malherbe and Jobé. Malherbe scored points consistently, finishing on the podium in eight of the twelve rounds to claim his third and final World Championship ahead of Jobé. Thorpe showed he was a future championship contender by winning the final three Grand Prix races of the year.
The 1985 500cc Motocross World Championship was dominated by the Honda teammates Malherbe and Thorpe. Despite Malherbe winning five Grand Prix races, Thorpe was able to finish on the podium in all twelve Grand Prix races to claim his first 500cc Motocross World Championship ahead of Malherbe in second place and their Honda teammate Geboers in third place. The two competitors won 18 of the 24 rounds and eight of the 12 Grand Prix races.
The 1986 500cc Motocross World Championship saw the resumption of the rivalry between Malherbe and his Honda teammates Thorpe and Geboers as well as Jobé in a season-long battle that wasn't decided until the final round. Entering the final round in Luxembourg, the four competitors were separated by only 20 points with Thorpe in first place holding a three-point lead over Malherbe. Thorpe was able to score a second-place finish behind Jobé to clinch his second consecutive World Championship just 5 points ahead of Malherbe. Malherbe's victory at the 1986 500cc Canadian Grand Prix would mark the final victory of his motocross racing career. By the end of 1986, his relationship with the Honda team was at a low ebb, he had grown weary of motocross racing and made the decision to retire. He competed in his final World Championship race at the 1986 500cc Luxembourg Grand Prix at the age of 30.
Career overview Six times between 1980 and 1986, Malherbe went into the final race of the year with a mathematical chance of winning the 500cc world championship. He won three 500cc motocross world titles (1980, 1981, 1984) and was a three-time Vice Champion (1983, 1985, 1986). Malherbe won 72 individual heat races and 39 Grand Prix victories during his world championship career and also won four Belgian motocross national championships (1972, 1977, 1983, 1985). He was a member of two victorious Belgian Trophée des Nations teams (1977, 1980), and three victorious Belgian Motocross des Nations teams (1977, 1979, 1980). At the time of his retirement, Malherbe's 39 Grand Prix race victories placed him fourth on the all-time winners list.www.motorsport-aktuell.com
Later life After his motocross career ended, he competed in auto racing. He drove in the French Formula Three championship with a best result being a 5th place at Spa-Francorchamps. He competed in the 1987 Spa 24 Hour round of the World Touring Car Championship. He then began to compete in rally raids riding for the French Yamaha importer, Sonauto. During the 1988 Paris–Dakar Rally while racing his motorcycle in the Algerian desert near Tamanrasset, he crashed and suffered a spinal cord injury. His remote location delayed medical assistance allowing a hematoma to form after the vertebral fracture leaving him a quadriplegic for the remainder of his life. He was supported with his disabilities by a tight-knit group of family and friends.
Malherbe died on 24 November 2022 at Liège hospital, Belgium, at the age of 66.
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
Denotes European motocross championship only.
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 1973 125cc Zündapp FRA1 FRA2 GER2 GER- AUT2 AUT- POR1 POR1 ESP1 ESP1 SM3 SM2 CH- CH- ITA1 ITA1 ESP1 YUG1 YUG2 1st 163 1974 125cc Zündapp ITA2 ITA1 FRA1 FRA1 CH5 CH2 GER- GER3 BEL1 BEL1 NED3 NED1 SWE1 SWE1 FIN1 FIN1 YUG1 YUG- POL- POL- AUT- AUT- CZE1 CZE1 ESP- ESP- USA- USA- UK- UK- 1st 229 1975 125cc Zündapp FRA2 FRA- UK2 UK2 YUG4 YUG- SWE2 SWE- NED- NED- POL- POL- GER- GER- CZE- CZE- USA- USA- CAN- CAN- ESP- ESP- BEL6 BEL4 7th 69 1976 250cc KTM ESP- ESP- BEL- BEL- CZE- CZE- POL- POL- USR- USR- YUG- YUG7 ITA5 ITA5 FRA- FRA- UK9 UK6 GER3 GER- NED- NED- SWE- SWE- 14th 33 1977 250cc KTM ESP7 ESP4 CH- CH- BEL3 BEL8 CZE- CZE7 ITA- ITA7 AUT4 AUT3 USR6 USR4 YUG- YUG2 GER3 GER2 UK- UK2 SWE5 SWE3 FIN2 FIN2 3rd 150 1978 500cc KTM CH7 CH5 AUT6 AUT5 FRA3 FRA6 DEN5 DEN5 FIN3 FIN4 SWE- SWE- USA- USA4 ITA4 ITA- UK6 UK- BEL5 BEL9 LUX7 LUX4 NED9 NED- 6th 109 1979 500cc Honda AUT6 AUT- FRA5 FRA2 SWE6 SWE- ITA5 ITA4 USA- USA- CAN5 CAN4 GER7 GER1 UK6 UK2 CH3 CH2 NED- NED4 BEL2 BEL1 LUX2 LUX1 3rd 176 1980 500cc Honda CH1 CH1 AUT8 AUT5 FRA1 FRA1 SWE3 SWE2 FIN4 FIN1 ITA2 ITA1 NED2 NED7 USA- USA- CAN3 CAN1 GER- GER8 BEL1 BEL1 LUX3 LUX3 1st 235 1981 500cc Honda AUT1 AUT1 CH4 CH2 FIN2 FIN2 SWE1 SWE- ITA3 ITA1 FRA- FRA3 USA- USA2 UK- UK7 NED2 NED2 CZE5 CZE4 BEL5 BEL1 LUX2 LUX8 1st 214 1982 500cc Honda FRA1 FRA1 NED- NED- SWE5 SWE2 FIN4 FIN- AUT- AUT4 ITA1 ITA1 GER2 GER1 USA- USA- CAN- CAN- UK- UK- BEL- BEL- LUX- LUX- 5th 121 1983 500cc Honda CH1 CH2 AUT2 AUT3 GER1 GER1 SWE5 SWE7 FIN5 FIN1 ITA6 ITA1 USA6 USA5 FRA2 FRA1 UK3 UK2 BEL5 BEL1 SM1 SM7 NED4 NED1 2nd 253 1984 500cc Honda AUT7 AUT7 CH1 CH3 ESP1 ESP1 FRA1 FRA1 SWE1 SWE10 GER1 GER2 NED2 NED2 USA2 USA4 CAN2 CAN2 UK5 UK4 BEL2 BEL3 ITA4 ITA5 1st 370 1985 500cc Honda AUT1 AUT1 FRA2 FRA- SWE4 SWE3 FIN1 FIN2 ITA- ITA2 ESP1 ESP1 NED1 NED4 USA6 USA6 UK2 UK1 BEL1 BEL2 LUX2 LUX1 CH3 CH1 2nd 378 1986 500cc Honda CH- CH- AUT3 AUT1 NED4 NED2 SWE6 SWE2 FIN- FIN4 GER1 GER3 CAN3 CAN1 USA5 USA4 FRA3 FRA4 UK5 UK7 BEL3 BEL3 LUX2 LUX2 2nd 311Sources:
References