Graham Noyce (born 18 February 1957) is an English former professional motocross racer. He competed in the Motocross World Championships from 1975 to 1984. Noyce was the 1979 500cc motocross world champion.
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Motocross career Growing up in Fair Oak, Hampshire, England, Noyce was encouraged by his father to start riding motorcycles at the age of 6. He won the British Schoolboy motocross championship at the age of 14 riding a 125cc Zündapp. Noyce left Wyvern County Secondary School at the age of 15 to become an apprentice tool maker for the Rickman brothers, noted British motorcycle frame builders. The Rickman brothers also provided him with a 250cc Montesa on which to compete.
After winning support races at the 1974 British motocross Grand Prix, Noyce was offered a contract to race for the Maico factory racing team. He competed in the 1975 British motocross championships for Maico however, when they refused to enter him into the World Championships, he accepted an offer from the British importer of Husqvarna Motorcycles to compete in the 1975 125cc Motocross World Championship. After competing in the opening rounds of the World Championship on a Husqvarna, he was sued for breach of contract by the Maico factory. A judge ruled that he must race for the Maico factory, but that Maico must provide him with competitive motorcycles. He finished the season aboard a Maico motorcycle ranked 17th in the 125cc motocross world championship.
He moved up to the premier 500cc class in 1976 and won his first Grand Prix heat race at the British motocross Grand Prix and finished the season ranked a respectable 4th place in the final world championship standings. Despite falling to 8th place in the 1977 world championship, his riding talent earned him a place on the Honda-HRC factory racing team for the 1978 season.
Noyce faced a strong field of competitors going into the 1979 season that included the defending World Champion Heikki Mikkola (Yamaha), five-time World Champion Roger De Coster (Suzuki), Gerrit Wolsink (Suzuki), Brad Lackey (Kawasaki) and his own Honda teammate André Malherbe. Mikkola had dominated the previous two seasons and was the overwhelming favorite to win the title until he suffered torn ligaments in his leg during pre-season practice. Mikkola's injury allowed his competitors to fill the void and six different competitors won Grand Prix races in 1979 (Noyce, Lackey, Wolsink, Mikkola, Bruno and Malherbe). Although Lackey won six heat races during the year, he struggled with his Kawasaki's lack of reliability.
Noyce won the season-opening 500cc Austrian Grand Prix then, at the fourth round in Italy, he took the championship points lead never to relinquish it. Although he won only one more Grand Prix at his home event in Great Britain, he was able to fend off a challenge by Wolsink by posting a string of consistent podium results to clinch the title at the penultimate Grand Prix in Belgium. He became the first British rider to win a 500cc Motocross World Championship since Jeff Smith in 1965.
Noyce won the 1980 500cc Finnish Grand Prix but then suffered a broken leg that forced him to withdraw from the championship to recover from his injury while his Honda teammate Malherbe won the World Championship. He returned in 1981 and fought a season-long duel with Malherbe as the two riders traded the top two positions in the points standings several times during the 500cc World Championship. The championship wasn't decided until the final race of the year in Luxembourg where Malherbe would prevail over Noyce to score his second consecutive World Championship.
Noyce won the 1982 500cc Swedish Grand Prix but failed to score points consistently and dropped to fourth place in the final points standings. In the 1983 500cc World Championship, Noyce won the season-opening Swiss Grand Prix, challenging Malherbe and Håkan Carlqvist (Yamaha) for the championship points lead until the halfway point where he began to fade. Carlqvist would win the World Championship with Malherbe and Noyce ending the season in second and third places. Noyce rode a KTM in the 1984 500cc World Championship finishing the season in 27th place. He competed in his final World Championship race at the 1985 500cc French Grand Prix at the age of 28.
Noyce won 14 individual heat races and 6 Grand Prix victories during his world championship racing career. He won one 500cc Motocross World Championship (1979) and won five British Motocross Championships (1976-1979, 1981). He was a member of six British Motocross des Nations teams (1975-1979, 1981) and seven Trophée des Nations teams (1975-1979, 1981-1982).
Noyce continues his involvement in the sport competing in vintage motocross events. He won the over 50 race at Polesworth in 2007 and competed at Farleigh Castle in July 2019.
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 R21975125cc Husqvarna FRA5 FRA- UK7 UK- YUG- YUG- SWE- SWE- NED- NED- POL- POL- 17th 13 Maico GER9 GER- CZE10 CZE- USA- USA- CAN- CAN- ESP- ESP- BEL- BEL- 1976 500cc Maico CH7 CH3 FRA- FRA- ITA3 ITA- AUT- AUT2 SWE6 SWE- FIN8 FIN3 GER- GER2 USA2 USA- CAN- CAN3 UK1 UK- BEL- BEL- LUX- LUX- 4th 103 1977 250cc Maico ESP- ESP- CH- CH- BEL- BEL- CZE- CZE- ITA- ITA- AUT- AUT- USR- USR- YUG- YUG- GER- GER- UK10 UK7 SWE- SWE- FIN- FIN- 26th 6 500cc Maico AUT6 AUT2 NED4 NED5 SWE10 SWE- FIN- FIN- GER- GER- ITA- ITA- USA- USA- CAN- CAN- UK3 UK- BEL4 BEL5 LUX- LUX- CH4 CH3 8th 74 1978 500cc Honda CH6 CH- AUT- AUT4 FRA8 FRA- DEN9 DEN- FIN4 FIN3 SWE- SWE5 USA- USA- ITA- ITA- UK5 UK2 BEL- BEL- LUX4 LUX2 NED2 NED- 7th 92 1979 500cc Honda AUT2 AUT2 FRA2 FRA7 SWE2 SWE6 ITA3 ITA3 USA3 USA5 CAN1 CAN3 GER6 GER2 UK2 UK1 CH2 CH5 NED1 NED2 BEL3 BEL- LUX4 LUX- 1st 225 1980 500cc Honda CH- CH- AUT- AUT- FRA3 FRA4 SWE5 SWE- FIN1 FIN4 ITA4 ITA- NED- NED- USA- USA- CAN- CAN- GER- GER- BEL- BEL- LUX- LUX- 8th 55 1981 500cc Honda AUT- AUT5 CH2 CH- FIN3 FIN4 SWE2 SWE1 ITA2 ITA2 FRA1 FRA4 USA3 USA6 UK3 UK2 NED1 NED6 CZE4 CZE5 BEL4 BEL- LUX3 LUX4 2nd 207 1982 500cc Honda FRA- FRA3 NED8 NED6 SWE1 SWE1 FIN- FIN3 AUT2 AUT5 ITA9 ITA- GER6 GER6 USA8 USA- CAN5 CAN2 UK4 UK5 BEL3 BEL1 LUX- LUX- 4th 148 1983 500cc Honda CH2 CH1 AUT3 AUT1 GER4 GER2 SWE4 SWE3 FIN3 FIN6 ITA5 ITA9 USA7 USA7 FRA- FRA- UK7 UK5 BEL3 BEL- SM6 SM2 NED1 NED- 3rd 173 1984 500cc KTM AUT- AUT8 CH- CH- ESP- ESP- FRA- FRA- SWE- SWE- GER11 GER7 NED- NED- USA- USA- CAN- CAN- UK- UK- BEL- BEL- ITA- ITA- 27th 22Sources:
References