1979 Finland 1981 Spain
It was a huge shock to the world of motorcycle trials in late January when Spain’s Manuel Soler passed away at the age of 63. He was a four-time national champion of Spain who inspired an entire nation of trials riders right through to the present day. As a member of the famous Bulto family, who manufactured the famous Spanish motorcycles and gave us the Sherpa’ T’ trials models, Soler started riding at an early age. On a custom-built, scaled-down Bultaco, he earned the affectionate nickname ‘El Monstruito’, which translates as ‘The Little Monster’, such were his efforts to succeed. In 1979, Bultaco was still the name in the trials world. From its introduction in 1975, it had dominated the FIM World Trials Championship with Great Britain’s Martin Lampkin and, from 1976–1978, with Finland’s Yrjo Vesterinen. Throw in Martin Lampkin’s three Scottish Six Days Trial victories from 1976–1978, and I am sure you get the picture; they were the ones to beat.
FIM WORLD TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
1979 was a championship of two halves. The first six rounds of the 12-round championship were all contested by the end of March. In June, the long-haul flight across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada and America opened up the second half of the season. It then moved back to Europe for the remaining four rounds — one in Italy followed by the move to Sweden and Finland’s rugged terrain, before the Czech Republic season finale.
As the series moved to Finland for round 11, there were two sets of riders fighting for positions in the top five. The fight for the championship was the first set: a Bultaco battle between the three-time world champion Yrjo Vesterinen and American Bernie Schreiber. It was Schreiber, with his new trick riding skills, who held the advantage. He won three rounds to the one of ‘Vesty’; the Finnish rider desperately need a home victory if he was to take the championship fight to the final round.
The fight for the final step on the podium was still up for the taking and comprised the second set between Ulf Karlson (Montesa-SWE), Martin Lampkin and fellow British rider Malcolm Rathmell (Montesa).
Schreiber had won in Sweden one week before and was now holding the upper hand with a ten-point cushion as the riders headed to Finland, the home of the ‘Iceman’ Vesterinen.
ROUND 11: ESPOO FINLAND 26TH AUGUST 1979
The result was all about one man — Manuel Soler. He became the first Spanish rider to record an FIM World Championship round win – and to make it an even better day, it was on a Spanish Bultaco. He had not contested the whole series and had missed the trip to Canada and the USA before deciding to contest the remaining rounds in Europe.
With two laps of 20 sections on some rugged and rock exposed terrain, who would have bet against Yrjo Vesterinen being beaten on home soil? But that’s exactly what happened. It was a fine day for riding, but not such a high-scoring event as you would expect. Carrying on his good form from Sweden, where he was second to Schreiber, Ulf Karlson came home second once again — just three marks behind Soler. Vesterinen would take the last step on the podium in third to close the gap on Schreiber to just three points with one round remaining. For the American, the day was a disaster, as he finished seventh.
The battling Brits, Malcolm Rathmell and Martin Lampkin had now been passed in the championship by Karlson as he moved to third position overall. Taking his best-ever world championship result and in front of a home crowd, the best-finishing SWM rider was Timo Ryysy on the SWM.
RESULTS: 1: Manuel Soler (Bultaco-ESP) 40; 2: Ulf Karlson (Montesa-SWE) 43; 3: Yrjo Vesterinen (Bultaco-FIN) 53; 4: Malcolm Rathmell (Montesa-GBR) 55; 5: Timo Ryysy (SWM-FIN) 64; 6: Antonio Gorgot (Bultaco-ESP) 67; 7: Bernie Schreiber (Bultaco-USA) 69; 8: Anttoni Vesterinen (Bultaco-FIN) 72; 9: Rob Shepherd (Honda-GBR) 76; 10: Jaime Subira (Montesa-ESP) 80.
CHAMPIONSHIP: 1: Schreiber 100; 2: Vesterinen 97; 3: Karlson 81; 4: Rathmell 79; 5: Lampkin 77; 6: Shepherd 59; 7: Coutard 44; 8: Manuel Soler (Bultaco-ESP) 28; 9: Whaley 24; 10: JM Lejuene 24.
HIGH FIVE
Winning the final round in the Czech Republic on 13 marks lost gave Schreiber a handsome winning advantage over second-placed Karlson, as his nearest rival in the championship, Vesterinen, finished fourth.
As the 1979 season closed, it was high fives all round for Bernie Schreiber as he became the youngest FIM World Trials Champion. Glorious in defeat, on learning of Schreiber’s winning ride, the three-time FIM champion ‘Vesty’ was one of the first riders to congratulate the American. Little did we know at the time, but this would be the very last time that Bultaco would win a world trials championship. Severe financial problems started to put the nails in the coffin of this once-mighty force in 1980 as the factory closed and the workers went on strike. Bultaco would never recover before the company closed permanently for this motorcycle manufacturer in 1983.
1979 FIM TRIAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
RESULTS: 1: Bernie Schreiber (Bultaco-USA) 115; 3: Yrjo Vesterinen (Bultaco-FIN) 105; 3: Ulf Karlson (Montesa-SWE) 93; 4: Martin Lampkin (Bultaco-GBR) 87; 4: Malcolm Rathmell (Montesa-GBR) 77; 6: Rob Shepherd (Honda-GBR) 59; 7: Charles Coutard (SWM-FRA) 45; 8: Manuel Soler (Bultaco-ESP) 30; 9: Marland Whaley (Montesa-USA) 24; 10: Jean Marie Lejuene (Montesa-BEL) 24; 11: Jaime Subira (Montesa-ESP) 22; 12: Nigel Birkett (Montesa-GBR) 22;
13: Antonio Gorgot (Bultaco-ESP) 21; 14: John Reynolds (Suzuki-GBR) 12; 15: Eddy Lejuene (Honda-BEL) 12; 16: Mick Andrews (Ossa-GBR) 11; 17: Timo Ryysy (SWM-FIN) 7; 18: Jean Luc Colson (Montesa-BEL) 6; 19: Joe Wallman (Bultaco-AUT) 5; 20: Danilo Galeazzi (SWM-ITA) 4; 21: Anttoni Vesterinen (Bultaco-FIN) 3; 22: Jo Jose (Bultaco-ESP) 3; 23: Claude Goset (Montesa-BEL) 3; 24: Ettore Baldini (Bultaco-ITA) 1; 25: Felix Krahnstover (Montesa-GER) 1. Trial Magazine would like to acknowledge the help of the riders who contributed with this article generation, Toon Van De Vliet, for going that extra mile to locate the pictures and the guardian of motorcycle trials Charley Demathieu for the statistics.