Georges Jobe RIP
By Alex Hodgkinson on 20th Dec 12
A motocross legend has died! Georges Jobe, five-times world champion and one of the most enigmatic characters the sport has ever known, passed away yesterday (December 19) in a Belgian clinic after losing a long and typically defiant battle against his final rival leukaemia. Georges was just 51-years-old.
Few personalities in the sport have aroused such strong emotions as the younger son of a Liege haulage contractor, Georges having been at the forefront of the sport for three decades, first as the sport's youngest world champion, then for his defiant battles against overwhelming odds on the track before he turned to management, steering KTM into the big league and plucking riders like David Philippaerts and Jonathan Barragan from obscurity to turn them into world stars.
Following elder brother Claude straight into the 250 GPs in 1979, Georges sensationally ran away with the world title in his second full season to become the sport's youngest world champion, an honour which he has only surrendered to the kids in the 125cc/ MX2 class.
Jobe (right) is pictured with former arch rival Britain's Neil Hudson at the 2010 Vets MXdN.
