VIVE LE BURGAT
Whilst both Eddy Lejeune and Bernie Schreiber missed the Scottish Six Days Trial to concentrate on their world championship season, Burgat went out and won the Scottish and carried that confidence to trounce the opposition in France. At the high-altitude ski resort of La Rousse in Eastern France, in the Jura mountains near the Swiss border, Gilles Burgat entered the history books as the first French rider to win a French FIM World Trials Championship round. As a member of the three-man SWM mounted French Pernod team along with the two Desnoyers brothers, Christian and Nicolas, no doubt they celebrated well into the night!
YOUNG TALENT
At 19 years old, the same age as his rival Eddy Lejeune, Gilles Burgat was unbeatable in France. Yes, you can argue that you always carry a home advantage, but that’s the same for every rider on home soil. Psychologically, he made his mark as a true world championship contender to his rivals.
As with some of the earlier rounds, bad weather, including snow on the Friday and heavy rain hitting the mountainous area, the organisers sensibly re-routed the riders around some of the deeper rivers.
As Burgat easily increased the winning margin on each of the three laps of the 15 sections, the crowd’s attention turned to who would finish second. Toni Gorgot was showing good form on the Ossa, but with Charles Coutard also showing the same would it be a French one-two?
GORGOT ON FORM
Just like the eventual winner, Burgat, Spain’s Toni Gorgot was starting to show the form many knew he was capable of and rode a strong trial to a comfortable second position. Missing the SSDT had given Bernie Schreiber time to get his WTC campaign back on track, and using Pirelli tyres, he looked like a new rider on the Italjet. The confidence was back, and he just missed beating Coutard for the final step on the podium with a disputed five-mark penalty awarded on the last section of the trial.
Martin Lampkin was looking very comfortable on the SWM, finishing fifth as Eddy Lejeune survived a huge crash on the Honda after grabbing too much front brake on the demanding rocks and going over the handlebars to finish sixth. Jaime Subira was happy with his highest-place finish in seventh on the prototype 240 Fantic as he won a tie-break with Yrjo Vesterinen.
ROUND 5: LES ROUSSES, FRANCE 17/05/1981. ENTRY: 80
RESULTS: 1: Gilles Burgat (SWM-FRA) 49; 2: Toni Gorgot (Ossa-ESP) 66; 3: Charles Coutard (Montesa-FRA) 73; 4: Bernie Schreiber (Italjet-USA) 74; 5: Martin Lampkin (SWM-GBR) 89; 6: Eddy Lejeune (Honda-BEL) 91; 7: Jaime Subira (FanticESP) 93; 8: Yrjo Vesterinen (Bultaco-FIN) 93; 9: Ulf Karlson (Montesa-SWE) 102; 10: Danilo Galeazzi (SWM-ITA) 102; 11: Manuel Soler (Montesa-ESP) 108; 12: Malcolm Rathmell (Montesa-GBR) 112;
13: Joe Wallman (Italjet-AUS) 113; 14: Christian Desnoyers (SWM-FRA) 118; 15: Nicolas Desnoyers (SWM-FRA) 118.