Five-time world motocross champion the late Georges Jobe will always be remembered by the British motocross public. Having passed away eight years ago, we lost one of the legends of the sport, and I was fortunate enough to often visit Jobe at his family home in Belgium, and on one occasion I did this interview.

It seemed that Jobe always put something special on the table when he travelled across the North Sea and onto England soil. He was one of the only men to ever manhandle the infamous Hawkstone Park jump at the British Grand Prix of 1984. His victory in the 1987 British 500cc Grand Prix was things legends are made of, leading home local hero’s Dave Thorpe and Kurt Nicoll.

Jobe found interest for the sport when his older brother Claude was already involved, racing the Grand Prix circuit for Montesa. Visiting the racetrack became a second nature for the 12 years old boy, and within two years of being a spectator he began racing and learning from the best.

"I used to go to the race with my parents, I saw a lot of riders, and I went to my first Grand Prix in Barcelona in 1972, it was at the Sabadell circuit and Jim Pomeroy won on the Bultaco. My brother was a factory rider for Montesa, he was racing, and we used to follow his progress. I was 12 years old.

"The best result my brother ever got was a sixth or seventh, he didn’t train, and was not a good example for me, but he did show me what you should not do, and I learnt from that. I was lucky he took me to all the races, he was talented, very talented, but because of him, I knew all the riders and from let's say from ten years old I know all the riders. I know them all, and I learnt a lot from those guys. My first ever motocross race, when I was 10 years old, it was also the same day Roger De Coster won his first world title, back in 1971."

When alive Jobe had the fortune to live just a stone’s throw from a special part of Belgian history, a track called Retinne was the home track of the Jobe family, and also a place many of the legends would practice.

"Pomeroy also won a Grand Prix at the track, which is in my backyard, at Retinne, Belgium. The track is still there now, just over the hill from where I live now. I rode there a lot when I was young. All the riders came to Retinne back when I was a kid, De Coster, Rahier, Carlqvist, Robert, Lackey, Malherbe, and Geboers, they practiced there. It was a practice track during the week, but two times a year we had a world championship, once in 1975 when Pomeroy won the 250cc GP and also 1977 and Gaston Rahier won the 125cc Grand Prix. I know that track so well; I can get emotional walking it."

One race stood out in the memory of Georges Jobe, and while he had many magic moments in the sport, it was on that sunny day around the legendary Hawkstone Park circuit that Jobe made possibly the most famous jump in Grand Prix history.

"Hawkstone Park in 1984 that was a really good race for me. In 1983 I was riding the 250 Grands Prix and we had a round at Hawkstone Park, already in that year I was thinking about trying to jump that jump. I was leading the championship, so I didn’t want to take any risk, and I didn’t jump it, but I wanted to so much. I ended up winning the 250cc championship that year and when I moved to the 500cc class and I knew we would be racing at Hawkstone Park I knew I would do the jump.

"I was thinking about it all year, until we arrived on the race weekend. It was such a big jump, but I knew it was possible. It was not a jump you should try and do, the first jump had a round face, it was not steep, so it was not going to be easy, but it could be gone. The Saturday every lap I would think about it, come in really hard and get set to jump it, but then at the last minute I would break and not do it. The last lap of practice I came around to the jump, I stopped before the jump, the spectators knew I wanted to do it, and they started clapping, calling out Jobe, Jobe, Jobe. I decided that I had to do it, and I did, the crowd went wild."

"The next day Eric Geboers followed me over the jump, he tried to do it and broke his leg, he didn’t even crash, it was just the impact, and it was such a big jump. On the Sunday I crashed in both races in the start, and I passed so many riders over that jump. I didn’t win, but I came up to second and beat the Hawkstone Park jump."

With five world championships and 28 Grand Prix victories Georges Jobe retired at the end of the 1992 season. Having given his all and produced some of the magic that makes motocross so popular the Belgian hero called it quits and he stepped from the podium at the last GP of 92.

"I was tired with the injuries. I won the championship in 1992 and stopped. I had thought about it. I went through that season with two broken shoulders, I also broke my arm, I was riding with such pain, and it was so hard. At that time, when I was carrying one of my injuries, I made a deal with myself that if I won the 500cc championship in 92 that I would stop, and I was able to do that.

"Some riders fail somewhere along the way, Joel Smets for instance, he won five titles, but he never beat Stefan Everts. He will live with that for the rest of his life. Joel was always saying the bike was not good, or whatever, but he never beat Stefan. In my career I beat everyone I raced against, at one moment or another I was quicker than Malherbe, Geboers, and Thorpe, so many others, so I am satisfied with what I did, I have no regrets."

Of course, we lost Georges Jobe on December 19, 2012, eight years ago, and it was a loss the World of motocross felt. With the passing of Eric Geboers, and also the deaths of riders like Joel Robert, Gaston Rahier, Hakan Carlqvist, Guennady Moisseev, Bill Nilsson in recent years, we have lost many of our legends. One thing is sure, we shall never forget them.