Keith Campbell (motorcyclist)
| Keith Campbell | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Australian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 2 October 1931 Melbourne, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 13 July 1958 (aged 26) Cadours, France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Keith Ronald Campbell (2 October 1931 – 13 July 1958) was an Australian professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.[1]
Keith Campbell grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran with the ambition to be a champion racing motorcyclist. He became Australia's first motorcycling road racing world champion when he won the 1957 FIM 350cc world championship as a member of the Moto Guzzi factory racing team.[1]
He married Geraldine, the sister-in-law of Britain's championship rider Geoff Duke and came back to Australia on his honeymoon in December 1957. He returned to Europe as the star rider at the 500cc Grand Prix de Cadours near Toulouse in France. According to a newspaper report, in trials he had beaten all records for the circuit, lapping at 71.5 miles an hour.[2] He was leading the race when he failed to round a bend known as Cox's Corner, crashed and was killed instantly.[3][4] His cause of death was said to be a fractured skull. This same corner claimed the life of Frenchman Raymond Sommer in 1950 and the circuit is named in his honour. Campbell's wife Geraldine was watching the race from the pits but did not see the accident.
Points system from 1950 to 1968
| Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Points | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
5 best results were counted up until 1955.
(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Class | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Points | Rank | Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 250cc | Excelsior | IOM - |
SUI - |
ULS 6 |
NAT - |
1 | 17th | 0 | |||||
| 1954 | 500cc | Norton | FRA - |
IOM - |
ULS - |
BEL 5 |
NED - |
GER - |
SUI - |
NAT - |
ESP - |
2 | 19th | 0 |
| 1955 | 350cc | Norton | FRA - |
IOM - |
GER 9 |
BEL 3 |
NED - |
ULS - |
NAT - |
4 | 11th | 0 | ||
| 1957 | 350cc | Moto Guzzi | GER - |
IOM 2 |
NED 1 |
BEL 1 |
ULS 1 |
NAT - |
30 | 1st | 3 | |||
| 500cc | Moto Guzzi | GER - |
IOM 5 |
NED - |
BEL - |
ULS - |
NAT - |
2 | 15th | 0 | ||||
| 1958 | 350cc | Norton | IOM 7 |
NED 3 |
BEL 3 |
GER - |
SWE - |
ULS - |
NAT - |
8 | 7th | 0 | ||
| 500cc | Norton | IOM NC |
NED - |
BEL 2 |
GER - |
SWE - |
ULS - |
NAT - |
6 | 9th | 0 |
References
- ^ a b c Keith Campbell career profile at MotoGP.com
- ^ THE HERALD - Melbourne, VIC, Monday 14 July 1958, page 1
- ^ Keith Campbell career profile at Motorsport Memorial
- ^ Isle of Man Weekly Times pp5 dated 18 June 1958
- ^ Keith Campbell Isle of Man TT results at iomtt.com