John Banks (motorcyclist)

John Banks was a leading British professional motocross racer from the 1960s and early 1970s.

Motorcycle racing career

As a member of the BSA factory racing team, Banks finished second to Paul Friedrichs in the 1968 F.I.M. 500cc Motocross World Championship.^[1] He duplicated this result in 1969, finishing behind Bengt Aberg.^[2][3] After the demise of the BSA factory in 1972, Banks joined with designer Eric Cheney to campaign BSA bikes in the motocross world championships before switching to CCM bikes, also powered by BSA engines.^[4]

By the 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. Despite this 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.^[5]

References