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.

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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 then gained a sponsorship from the Dot motorcycle company and in 1963 he placed third at the Swiss Grand Prix just after turning 19. His impressive results led to an offer to ride for the BSA factory racing team in 1966 as a teammate to Jeff Smith. He contested a few rounds of the 1967 500cc motocross world championship scoring a third place at the Luxembourg Grand Prix and, placing 12th in the season final points standing. He won the 1967–68 BBC Grandstand winter series to claim his first major victory.

Entering the 1968 season, Banks faced strong competition from the defending world champion Paul Friedrichs and his ČZ teammate Roger De Coster as well as the Swedish Husqvarna team riders Bengt Åberg and Åke Jonsson. He won his first individual race victory in the second moto of the season opening 1968 Austrian Grand Prix.

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. That gave communist authorities the opportunity to enter several local East German competitors who helped Friedrichs to win the race by continually obstructing Banks' path. Banks placed fourth behind Friedrichs and fellow Eastern Bloc competitors, Vlastimil Valek and Petr Dobry.

Banks won his first-ever overall world championship race at the ninth round of the series with a victory at the French Grand Prix and, followed one week later with a victory at the Dutch Grand Prix. The setting of the Belgian Grand Prix was a rugged, narrow track in the forests surrounding the picturesque hilltop Citadel of Namur. First held in 1947, the Namur Grand Prix was revered by motocross enthusiasts in the same manner that auto racing enthusiasts considered the Monaco Grand Prix to be the crown jewel of the Formula One season. 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.

With one race left in the world championship, Banks held a slim points lead over Friedrichs and Jonsson. At the season ending Swiss Grand Prix, Friedrichs was the overall winner, thus relegating Banks to second place in the final points standings by one point. 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. He suffered an ignition failure in the West German Grand Prix, had a tire puncture in Luxembourg then, suffered another ignition failure in the French Grand Prix. Finally, at the Swiss Grand Prix he punctured another tire, allowing Bengt Åberg to overtake him to win the 1969 500cc motocross world championship.

Banks suffered a dislocated knee during the 1970 season that forced him to miss the world championships. He returned from his injury to place second behind BSA teammate Dave Nicoll in the 1970 Trans-AMA motocross series, established by the American Motorcyclist Association as a pilot event to help establish motocross in the United States. 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. He would complete the remainder of the season riding as a privateer on a Husqvarna motorcycle. At the end of the world championships, he returned to the United States where, he rode a ČZ motorcycle to compete in the 1971 Trans-AMA motocross series.

He then accepted an offer from designer Eric Cheney to campaign BSA B50 motorcycles in the 1973 FIM Motocross World Championship. 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. He finished the first moto in third place behind Willy Bauer and Roger De Coster then, finished the second moto in fourth place behind Bauer, Gerrit Wolsink and Jaak van Velthoven.

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). He was a member of six British Motocross des Nations teams (1969, 1971-1974, 1977). Banks also won four BBC Grandstand trophy titles, two World of Sport championships, was named East Anglian Sports Personality of the Year.

His son, Mark Banks won the 1988 125cc British motocross national championship and, his grandson Elliot Banks Browne won the 2012 MX2 British national championship.

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:

References