Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s many of the mysteries of the world motocross travelling circus were around the eastern bloc country of Soviet Union. Riders dressed in those red shirts with the hammer and sickle on the chest. Their stern faces and often accompanied by Russian agents.

Despite Russia being the largest country in the world by surface area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth’s inhabited land area, and the ninth most populous, with over 144 million people, its history in motocross has been hot and cold.

Back in the early 1960’s names such as Igor Grigoriev, and Victor Arbekov led the Russian charge on the world motocross championship. Grigoriev was the first Russian to finish top three in the world, finishing with third place in the 250cc class in 1963.

Arbekov made history in his country in 1965, winning the 250 championship and starting a love affair between the sport and Russia.

The greatest Russian motocross rider, Guennady Moisseev would capture his first of three world titles in 1974, also in the 250 class, and he would then win again in 1977 and 1978.

Around the era of Moisseev many Russian riders captured GP victories, or top three finishes in the championship. Vladimir Kavinov would finish third in the 250cc championship in 1976, second in 1977, and again third in 1979.

The country of Russia would have to wait 36 years before the got another medal in the world motocross championships, when Evgeny Bobryshev finished with third place in the 2015 MXGP championship.

As for Grand Prix’s held in Russia, the first was in 1963, and it was in 1965 that a Russian rider won at home, when Grigoriev won the 250 GP. It’s been 30 times that a motocross Grand Prix has been held in Russia, and of course in a couple of weeks’ time, it will become 31 times.

Russia also won the MXoN on two occasions, the first time in Kishinev, Russia in 1968 and again in 1978.

Guennady Moisseev – Russian Legend

Moisseev who had won the 1974 World 250cc championship, on a KTM motorcycle, however in high drama, he reached the title after fellow Russian riders knocked the other title contender Jaroslav Falta down in last race of the season.

In 1976, he narrowly lost the 250 world championship by one point to Heikki Mikkola despite a late season charge. He won two more 250 world championships in 1977 and 1978, again while riding KTM motorcycles.

In 1978, he was a member of the winning Russian team in the Motocross des Nations. Moisseev won a race for the last time in 1979 when friction developed between the Russian Motorcycling Federation and the KTM factory. As a result, KTM withdrew their support of the Russian team. Without competitive motorcycles, the Soviet team could no longer compete against the Western European and Japanese factory racing teams.

Moisseev, like many Russian sports stars of his era, was enlisted in the Russian Army, rising to the ranks of Major during his racing career. His extreme fitness combined with team tactics made him a fearsome competitor. After retiring from competition, Moisseev became a motocross coach. In 1977, Moisseev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour and, in 1978 he was given the honorary title of “Honoured Master of Sports.” In December 2000, he was elected president of the Russian Motorcycle Federation. He has since passed away, but his memory will live on forever in the sport of motocross.

Russian GP winners

Guennady Moisseev 14
Victor Arbekov 10
Vladimir Kavinov 8
Anatoly Ovchinnikov 2
Igor Grigoriev 1
Pavel Rulev 1
Eugenij Rybalchenko 1
Evgeny Bobryshev 1

Russian History in Motocross

Russia has a rich history with the Grand Prix series, dating back to the 1960s. Of course, in recent times it has been Evgeny Bobryshev who has shown impressive results in the MXGP class, and Alexandr Tonkov and Vsevolod Brylyakov in MX2 and now MXGP. But long before these guys were even born came the very best of Russian motocross.

Since 1963 Russian motocross sportsmen became regular participants of the International races of the highest level. However, there was an obstacle, since the Russian riders had to overcome the difficulties because of the ideological prohibition of the western motorcycles.

Russian racers were permitted to use only motorcycles produced by the allies of the Soviet Union, in particular, Czech Republic (then it was called Czechoslovakia). Czechs produced famous at that time models Jawas and CZ’s. But Czech motorcycles were weaker in many aspects compared to the machines produced in Europe and Japan.

Nevertheless, in 1965 Victor Arbeckov could become the Champion onboard a CZ, which was a real surprise for the motorcycling world. Arbeckov could gain a victory even over great six-time World Champion Joel Robert from Belgium, who was at the peak of his sporting career.

Another famous racer, Gennady Moiseev proved to the world the high potential of the Russian racers once again in 1973. During one of the rounds of 1973 World Championship Gennady Moiseev appeared to have no motorcycle, as the Czech partners were not in time to deliver their CZ for him. Then the representatives of the young KTM company from Austria offered the Russian racer their machine. Gennady Moiseev took the offer and won the race.

Frankly, that liberty cost the representative of the Russian delegation his Communist party membership and the position. On the other hand, the Russian team acquired the great KTM machine. With the KTM Gennady Moiseev became three-time World Champion, in 1974, 1977 and 1978.

However, in 1979 Gennady Moiseev was prohibited by the Soviet authorities to use Austrian KTM, and he was ordered to switch to CZ model again, which immediately worsen his position to the tenth place in the Championship.

Before 1980 the national team of Russia took the first places three times, two times - second places and four times - third places in Motocross of Nations and Trophy Des Nations. During the first 18 years the leading motocross racers of Russia - Arbekov, Grigorieyv, Moiseev, and Kavinov - won 4 golden medals, 2 silver medals, and 4 bronze medals in World Championships.

Only in the beginning of the 1990-s the Russian sportsmen got the freedom and possibility to use modern motorcycles produced in Western countries. But the ideological iron curtain had been preventing the natural development of motorized sports in Russia for years, and the riders lost their skills to be competitive with the rest of the world. Sometimes the Russian sportsmen couldn't qualify for the World Championship.

However, step by step Russian motocross gained the strength. There's a good organization and the Russian racers become more competitive, they work hard, and react quickly for the changes of modern motocross racing, but its a long road back from the golden era of Russian motocross in the 1970s.