JAN DE VRIES
Two-time 50cc World Champion and a gifted two-stroke tuner, he was the first Dutchman to win a motorsports world title
Dutch 50cc GP title winner goes to the great paddock in the sky
Jan de Vries, 50cc World Champion in 1971 and 1973 riding for Van Veen Kreidler, passed away in his Dutch hometown of Purmerend on January 14, 2021. With his passing the racing world not only lost a champion, but also a gifted two-stroke engine tuner who helped to shape 50cc racing in the 1970s.
Jan started his career in grasstrack racing and was contracted by the Van Veen Kreidler racing team after a circuit test at the Dutch circuit of Zandvoort. At the time, the successful Dutch Kreidler importer Hendrik ‘Henk’ van Veen had taken over the Kreidler racing stable after the German factory decided to quit racing in 1966 as they simply did not have the funds to keep up with the complex 50cc multicylinder racers of Suzuki and Honda. But an FIM rule change from 1969 onwards, restricting the 50cc class to a single cylinder and no more than six speeds, once more opened up the possibilities for Kreidler to gain Grand Prix racing success. Van Veen jumped right in and started to compete internationally under his own Van Veen Kreidler banner, quickly followed by participation in GP racing. Van Veen’s early 1970s GP effort was based on two race teams under one roof, with riders Aalt Toersen and Jan de Vries. Jan’s team consisted of Jaap Voskamp, who in 1971 designed a new race frame for de Vries after having visited Colin Seeley; Jos Schurgers, who designed and manufactured the bodywork; and engine tuner Jörg Möller. Möller was contracted by Van Veen in 1970 and developed the engines together with de Vries. In 1970, Jan won his first Grand Prix at Monza, and that year he also competed in his one and only 125cc GP at Assen with MZ.
In 1971 he won his first 50cc World Championship title after a season-long battle with Derbi works rider Angel Nieto, who quickly became his arch rival on the circuits. That season de Vries won five GPS, including Nieto’s home GP in Spain, where Jan clinched the 50cc world title. The 1972 season featured many more fierce battles between the two, ending in a tie on points between the pair of adversaries. They had both won three races and finished second three times – but the 50cc world title went to Nieto with the closest of margins after all GP race times were added up.
In 1973 de Vries clinched his second and last 50cc title on his 19bhp Van Veen Kreidler which revved to 16,200rpm with a top speed of 127mph. Later that season Jörg Möller was contracted by Morbidelli, after which Jan gave up riding to become the engine tuner for Henk van Veen’s racing team. He was responsible for the engines that gave Dutch rider Henk van Kessel the 50cc world title in 1974. A year later Angel Nieto joined Van Veen Kreidler, after which Jan prepped his engines with the same world championship-winning result in 1975.
De Vries was the first Dutchman to win a world championship title in motorsports; he stood on the 50cc GP podium a total of 27 times, scored 14 GP victories and was twice crowned 50cc world champion. He passed away as a result of cardiac arrest at the age of 77 old. Rest in peace, Jan.