Kees van der Ven (born 18 June 1957) is a Dutch former professional motocross racer and racing team manager. He competed in the FIM Motocross World Championships from 1978 to 1991. Van der Ven was one of the most accomplished Dutch motocross racers of the 1980s, winning Grand Prix motocross races in the 125, 250 and 500cc displacement classes.

Motocross racing career Early career Van der Ven was born in Bakel, Netherlands on 18 June 1957. At the age of 21, he scored in his first Motocross World Championship points at the 1978 250cc Austrian Grand Prix as a privateer aboard a Maico motorcycle. Van der Ven won the first overall victory of his career at the 1979 250cc Finnish Grand Prix where he finished ahead of Vladimir Kavinov (KTM) and three-time World Champion Gennady Moiseyev (KTM). He ended the 1979 season ranked fifth in the 250cc Motocross World Championship.

1980 marked the best result of Van der Ven's career when he finished second to Georges Jobé (Suzuki) in the 1980 250cc Motocross World Championship. Eight different competitors won Grand Prix events during the season, however none of them were able to score points consistently to challenge Jobé. Van der Ven won five heat races, two more than Jobé, however Jobé's consistent point scoring earned him the championship. Van der Ven's performance during the 1980 season earned him a place on the KTM factory racing team.

KTM factory team rider Van der Ven won two Grand Prix events in the 1981 250cc Motocross World Championship, however the season was dominated by Jobé who had led the championship by 53 points over his closest rival, Neil Hudson (Yamaha) with four rounds remaining. Jobé appeared to be heading towards a second consecutive World Championship when he was injured while competing in a Belgian National Championship race, allowing Hudson to claim the title by 2 points over Jobé in second place while Van der Ven finished the season ranked third.

In the 1982 250cc Motocross World Championship, Van der Ven won three Grand Prix races as he battled with Jobé (Suzuki) and Danny LaPorte (Yamaha) for the championship points lead. He briefly leading the provisional standings after the first seven rounds of the season but then faltered at his home Grand Prix in the Netherlands as LaPorte then won three consecutive Grand Prix races to clinch the world championship ahead of Jobé in second place while Van der Ven finished the season ranked third. Jobé dominated the 1983 250cc Motocross World Championship ahead of LaPorte with Van der Ven taking third in the championship for a third consecutive time.

In 1984, Van der Ven switched to the 125 class and won three of the first five Grand Prix events to take the championship points lead until he injured his hand at the sixth round in Switzerland. Michele Rinaldi (Suzuki) then won five of the last seven Grand Prix events to clinch the World Championship ahead of Corrado Maddii (Cagiva) as Van der Ven finished the season in third place. He was ranked fourth in the 1985 125cc Motocross World Championship despite not participating in the final two rounds in Argentina and Brazil. At the 1985 Motocross des Nations event held in Gaildorf, West Germany, Van der Ven was the second highest 500cc individual points scorer behind David Thorpe to help the Dutch team finish in second place behind the American team.

Van der Ven moved up to the premier 500cc class for the 1986 season. The 500cc Motocross World Championships featured one of the most talented field of competitors of the 1980s. Van der Ven was challenged by the powerful Honda factory team of David Thorpe, André Malherbe and Eric Geboers as well as Yamaha's Håkan Carlqvist and the 1983 250cc World Champion Georges Jobé riding for the Kawasaki factory racing team. Although the Honda team dominated the season, Van der Ven won the 1986 500cc Swedish Grand Prix and finished the season ranked fifth in the world championship.

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. Van der Ven was challenging Jobé {Honda) for the championship points lead until an injury forced him to miss two rounds. He finished the season strongly by winning the final two Grand Prix races of the year to place third in the final points standings behind Jobé and second place Kurt Nicoll (KTM). At the 1987 Motocross des Nations event held in Unadilla, New York, Van der Ven was the highest 500cc individual points scorer as the Dutch team once again finished in second place behind the American team.

Van der Ven's victory at the 1989 500cc Swedish Grand Prix marked the final win of his motocross racing career. He competed in his final World Championship race at the 1992 500cc Dutch Grand Prix at the age of 35.

Career overview Van der Ven won 33 individual heat races (9-125cc, 17-250cc, 7-500cc) and 18 Grand Prix victories (4-125cc, 10-250cc, 4-500cc) during his world championship racing career. Although he never won a World Championship, he was the 1980 250cc Vice Champion and was a ten-time Dutch Motocross National Champion (250cc: 1978-1983, 500cc: 1985-1986, 1988, 1990). Van der Ven was a member of ten Dutch Motocross des Nations teams (1978-1982, 1984-1985, 1987-1988, 1990) and seven Trophée des Nations teams (1978-1984).

Van der Ven also competed in enduro events and was a member of the winning Dutch team at the 1984 International Six Days Enduro. A specialist on sand tracks, he won five consecutive times at the Le Touquet beach race between 1982 and 1986.

Later life After his riding career ended, Van der Ven became a successful team manager for KTM, winning 125cc world championships with Grant Langston (2000) Steve Ramon (2003) and Ben Townley (2004).

Motocross Grand Prix Results

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 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 1978 250cc Maico ESP- ESP- ITA- ITA- CZE- CZE- YUG- YUG- AUT6 AUT10 GER- GER- UK- UK- FRA- FRA- USA- USA- SWE- SWE- FIN- FIN- USR- USR- 26th 6 1979 250cc Maico ESP- ESP- NED5 NED2 ITA- ITA- BEL5 BEL- YUG- YUG- CZE- CZE9 POL2 POL8 FRA10 FRA7 FIN1 FIN3 USA8 USA5 GER5 GER3 BUL7 BUL5 5th 106 1980 250cc Maico ESP- ESP- CZE8 CZE- GER- GER8 BEL10 BEL- POL1 POL4 USR- USR- UK1 UK- FRA- FRA2 NED1 NED1 USA5 USA4 FIN1 FIN2 SWE7 SWE- 2nd 132 1981 250cc KTM FRA8 FRA1 ESP9 ESP3 AUT7 AUT3 ITA- ITA- CZE3 CZE3 BUL- BUL5 CH8 CH9 UK1 UK2 GER10 GER5 USA3 USA3 USR- USR- NED1 NED1 3rd 159 1982 250cc KTM CH5 CH7 ESP8 ESP3 BEL3 BEL5 CZE6 CZE- ITA2 ITA1 FRA6 FRA1 UK1 UK2 NED5 NED3 USR5 USR6 USA3 USA1 FIN3 FIN1 SWE3 SWE- 3rd 205 1983 250cc KTM ESP3 ESP- FRA- FRA- ITA- ITA- NED- NED3 BUL9 BUL8 GER- GER- UK3 UK3 CAN1 CAN1 USA7 USA7 CH4 CH6 SWE- SWE6 FIN3 FIN5 3rd 117 1984 125cc KTM ITA1 ITA1 NED1 NED- BEL1 BEL1 AUT1 AUT9 GER1 GER2 CH4 CH- SM- SM- FRA7 FRA3 ESP7 ESP6 SWE- SWE1 FIN- FIN- LUX3 LUX11 3rd 255 1985 125cc KTM NED9 NED3 ITA9 ITA3 BEL10 BEL6 FRA9 FRA5 YUG6 YUG- CZE2 CZE8 SM- SM7 GER2 GER1 FIN3 FIN3 POR5 POR3 ARG- ARG- BRA- BRA- 4th 215 1986 500cc KTM CH- CH- AUT5 AUT7 NED13 NED5 SWE3 SWE1 FIN5 FIN5 GER3 GER6 CAN6 CAN5 USA- USA11 FRA4 FRA9 UK4 UK3 BEL10 BEL8 LUX- LUX9 5th 211 1987 500cc KTM ESP3 ESP15 FRA7 FRA15 AUT- AUT2 FIN2 FIN2 SWE2 SWE4 GER6 GER4 ITA- ITA- UK- UK- NED- NED8 BEL5 BEL2 LUX1 LUX2 CH1 CH1 3rd 243 1988 500cc KTM AUT13 AUT10 CH7 CH2 SWE9 SWE4 FIN- FIN2 GER7 GER- ITA8 ITA12 USA5 USA11 UK3 UK3 NED7 NED1 SM12 SM5 BEL11 BEL2 LUX9 LUX- 4th 212 1989 500cc KTM NED4 NED5 FRA- FRA- AUT11 AUT4 ITA10 ITA10 FIN1 FIN6 SWE1 SWE2 USA5 USA10 SM4 SM4 UK- UK- BEL- BEL- LUX- LUX- SWE- SWE- 8th 164 1990 500cc KTM NED8 NED3 CH- CH- AUT8 AUT- FRA- FRA- FIN7 FIN4 ITA9 ITA6 UK8 UK8 GER14 GER5 SM- SM11 BEL3 BEL3 LUX- LUX10 USA7 USA- 7th 149 1991 500cc KTM CH- CH- AUT- AUT- FIN14 FIN10 SWE15 SWE9 FRA- FRA- NED11 NED5 ITA- ITA14 UK4 UK6 GER10 GER7 BEL- BEL6 LUX- LUX- USA- USA- 13th 82Sources: Year Class Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos Pts R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 1992 500cc KTM USA- USA- USA- CZE- CZE- CZE- AUT- AUT- AUT- FIN- FIN- FIN- SM- SM- SM- GER- GER- GER10 UK15 UK13 UK- FRA- FRA- FRA- NED10 NED- NED- BEL- BEL- BEL- LUX- LUX- LUX- CH- CH- CH- 32nd 16Sources:

References

External links Kees van der Ven profile