series of smallcapacityfiel dbikes, then at
16 a250ccZundappwhich wasreplaced
with a250 Greeves for1960. It wasonthis
machinehis talent begantoshow whenhe
managedfourth in the Belgian lightweight
championship. Great thingswere promised
and Joelwent to the 250cc British MX GP
at ShrublandPark in 1961.It wasn’tagreat
debutas aflyingstoneleft him concussed
and he barelymanagedto get back to the
paddock,detunedand out of the running.
The next yearhowever,hedid the full
seasonof GPs and managedexcellent
placingswhen the Greeves couldstand
the pace.
Whenthe VilliersStarmaker engine was
introducedthis seemedthe answer to hisprayers, yet stillwasn’tuptothe job and the
costsof keepingitgoing were unfeasible.
It wasatthis pointRobertcheekily
suggestedto the CZ factorytheyloan him
one of their works machines.The factory did,
it arrivedinAugust 1963; by August 1964
Joel wasworld champion andnoone was
moresurprisedthan him. Receiving his draft
papersjust before Christmas in 1963, he
wasn’teven sure he wouldget leave to attend
GPs. He did, went to Spain,wasmediocre,
managed to makethe Belgianhomeround
and...well... dominatedthe event to get
hisfirs twin. The nextthree rounds sawhis
nameat the top and even betterit waswith
vastly differentcircuits frommud to bone
dry, agreat boostforhis confiden ce.Helapsedalittle after that but wasback on
form for threeconsecutive wins,including the
British GP where our photosof him are from;
thefinal sawthe title go to Robert. He did
a‘just to be certain’ win in Russia but was
unchallengeableat that point.
Of thosewinsinthatseason,it is possible
theCzechGPshowedhis mettle, in thefirs t
leg he went from sixth tofirs t; in the second
legheand Torsten Hallmanshot away from
thefie ldand Robertwas on the Swede’s
rear wheelfor 50 minutes until abalk by a
backmarkermade him stall hisengine two
laps from the end. Hallmanvanished, Robert
fired up and not only caught the Swede, but
passedhim to win the second leg.
Joel Robertwas on his way...19
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