1964 FIM Motocross World Championship


The 1964 Motocross World Championship was the 8th edition of the Motocross World Championship organized by the FIM and reserved for 500cc and 250cc motorcycles.

Summary

Jeff Smith, riding for the BSA factory racing team won the 500cc motocross world championship to become the first British rider to claim the premier division, beating out former two-time world champions Rolf Tibblin and Sten Lundin. The Husqvarna factory stopped producing their four-stroke motorcycles in 1963, leaving Tibblin without a motorcycle for the 1964 season. He teamed up with engine tuner Nisse Hedlund to build their own complete motocross machine in time for the 1964 season. Tibblin began the season strongly, winning five of the first six races; however, Smith consistently scored points throughout the season, and the championship wasn't decided until the final race of the season in Spain, where Smith took the victory to claim the World Championship by only two points over Tibblin.
In the 250cc division, Husqvarna factory rider Torsten Hallman was favored to repeat after his dominant performance in the 1963 championship. The return of Greeves factory rider Dave Bickers after a two-year absence should have made him Hallman's biggest challenger; however, he was upset by the unexpected arrival of 20-year-old privateer Joël Robert, riding a ČZ motorcycle. After Hallman won the season-opening Spanish Grand Prix, Robert reeled off a string of four consecutive victories to take the championship points lead. Bickers was able to relegate Robert to second place at the Luxembourg Grand Prix; however, his Greeves proved to be too fragile and underpowered to pose a serious challenge. Hallman was able to recover with a victory at the Italian Grand Prix, but then Robert won another four Grand Prix races in succession to clinch the World Championship. The 20-year-old Robert became the youngest motocross world champion at the time. Victor Arbekov became the first Russian competitor to win a Grand Prix overall on 2 August at the East German Grand Prix.

Final standings

Points are awarded to the top 6 classified finishers. For the final championship standings, half of the competitors' results are retained. Thus with 14 Grand Prix, the 7 best results are retained.
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
Points864321