BARCELONA # 40
It’s very much a time for reminiscing when iconic events celebrate birthdays, and the opening round of the 2017 FIM X-Trial World Championship would be no different. It was quite fitting that the opening event of this year’s indoor series would take us to the Palau Sant Jordi stadium located high on the hill and overlooking Barcelona for their 40th anniversary this year.
The original event took place on the 24th January 1978, staged in the city’s Palais des Sports stadium. It would move to its current location at the Palau Sant Jordi stadium in 1992.
MAJOR INDOOR
At the height of the mid-seventies, motorcycle trials were the ‘boom’ sport in Spain, with the three main manufacturers Bultaco, Ossa and Montesa selling not hundreds of machines but thousands. They wanted a showcase international event where they could display their new machines and the skills of their very best riders. Would you believe that the first Barcelona Indoor Trial took place on a Thursday in the old Palais des Sports stadium, with free access gained by those people who were in possession of a copy of the SoloMoto magazine who had organised the competition!
The first event was a huge success, and the home crowd were ecstatic to be able to applaud a Spanish winner, Jamie Subira riding a Montesa Cota 348 model, taking the win in front of the Trials World Champion from Finland Yrjo Vesterinen ahead of Kiku Paya on an Ossa.
This new event would open the door for other countries to stage indoor trials; they would start to appear across Europe and America as demonstration events and not always as a competition. It was a case of taking the sport to the public as opposed to expecting them to trudge out into the countryside to witness motorcycle trials.
In 1979 tall American Bernie Schreiber would bring new skills to the sport with his ‘pivot’ turns and flamboyant style taking him to the world crown as the world’s number one. The Barcelona crowd loved him as he headed a Bultaco one-two in front of Spain’s Manual Soler.
In 1980 the Italians were making inroads to the Spanish domination of trials motorcycles with both Fantic and SWM machines making their first appearance at the event. It was Schreiber who held up the Spanish reputation with another Bultaco win, with Jamie Subira 3rd on a 200 Fantic.
In 1981 Toni Gorgot would restore Spanish pride with a win for Ossa on the new yellow ‘Gripper’ as Belgium’s Eddy Lejeune took second on the four-stroke Honda followed by Italian Danilo Galeazzi on the SWM. During the interval Spain’s new cycle-trials superstar Andreu Codina would show off his skills to the crowd.