Keith Campbell

Who was Keith Campbell?

Keith Ronald Campbell was a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer from Australia.

Keith Campbell grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran with the ambition to be a champion racing motor cyclist. He became Australia's first motorcycling world champion when he won the 1957 FIM 350cc world championship as a member of the Moto Guzzi factory racing team.

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. He was leading the race when he failed to round a bend known as Cox’s Corner, crashed and was killed instantly. His cause of death was said to be a fractured skull. This same corner claimed the life of Frenchman Raymond Sommer in 1952 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.