Written by Jack Burnicle, July 2023
Saturday August 19th is a memorable day in the life of James Dobb. While it signals next month the first day of the World Vets’ Motocross he is promoting at Wiltshire’s iconic former grand prix venue, Farleigh Castle, it is also the memorable day on which he clinched the World 125cc Championship in 2001! Riding a factory KTM, Dobb had finished second behind his team-mate Grant Langston in 2000 before steam-rollering the 2001 series. He broke out with victory at the opening round in Spain, finished behind home-boy Eric Eggens in Holland then produced a winning sequence of four back-to-back triumphs, starting in Australia and ending in Belgium. James went on to claim two more grand prix wins, the second at the Swiss round a week before that momentous day in Germany on August 19 th when he was crowned world champ, leaving Eggens and Steve Ramon to squabble over the silver and bronze medals for the last three rounds of the season.
Dobb originally enjoyed a stellar schoolboy career before signing for Cagiva at the tender age of 15 and going on to win the British 125 title as a teenager with Honda in 1989. He followed that up with the National 250cc championship in 1990 and raced 250GPs for a couple of years before being offered a berth at Pro-Circuit Kawasaki in the USA. James spent the next five years competing in the States, his stand out moment winning an AMA National round in the brutal sand of Southwick!
He returned to Europe initially to race for Suzuki GB, winning another British 125cc title for Rob Hooper’s team in 1998 and rising to fifth in the world championship in 1999. KTM were impressed and hired him for 2000, and with them he enjoyed the most fruitful years of his career, culminating in that crowning achievement in Germany on August 19 th . So come and raise a glass to him at the World Vets’ MX that weekend in the fabulous setting of Farleigh Castle!