CELEBRATION
FIM World Trials Championship
In 2015 the governing body of international motorsport, the FIM, celebrates forty years of the World Trials Championship. Since its introduction in 1975 it has, like any other motorsport, witnessed the ups and downs and the controversy which is played out at the cutting edge of this motorcycle discipline. We have witnessed eras of domination from both the riders and manufacturers which all adds to the excitement of the slowest of all the two-wheeled championships.
THE SEVENTIES
In 1975 the Spanish Bultaco name was very dominant in the WTC. Great Britain’s Martin Lampkin had joined the brand in the early seventies. He won the title by one point from the foreign threat of Finland’s Yrjo Vesterinen who was also in the International Bultaco team along with Frenchman Charles Coutard. Vesterinen approached the 1976 season with a cool, calculated riding style that would see him edge out Malcolm Rathmell and Lampkin for the crown as the British rider finished a close second in front of his fellow countryman with Mick Andrews fourth on the Yamaha. In 1977 the championship began its dominance by the foreign riders as ‘Vesty’ won once again, finishing in front of Sweden’s Ulf Karlson on the Montesa as Lampkin slipped off the pace finishing in fourth. Martin Lampkin’s fight for WTC honours was not over yet and in 1978 he pushed Vesterinen all the way, winning the final round and finishing just two points behind him in the series. Vestys ‘Hat Trick’ of wins set a new standard but he was also aware of the challenge coming from across the Atlantic in the form of American Bernie Schreiber who finished third. The tall American was on a mission, bringing with him the new style of riding including the famous pivot turns on his Bultaco. For the first time in many years, in 1979 he was a clear ten point winner from Vesterinen and Karlson and the podium had no English riders on it at the close of the season.
THE EIGHTIES
The 1980 season would close with the same top three riders but at the top of the pile was Karlson who was a clear winner on his Montesa in front of Schreiber and ‘Vesty’. 1981 will always be remembered for the winning year of Frenchman Gilles Burgat and the SWM, with the Italian brand breaking the Spanish dominance as he won from Karlson by a margin of thirty five points! Vesterinen was third in a close battle with a new young rider from Belgium named Eddy Lejeune on the Honda. Over the next two years Lejeune would dominate the WTC like never seen before pushing both Schreiber and Burgat down the order. He would finish off his hat-trick of wins from 1982-1984 on the four-stroke powered machine as a new French rider, Thierry Michaud, arrived as a genuine challenger. The next few years from 1985-1991 witnessed some of the closest battles ever between Michaud and a young Jordi Tarres on the Italian Beta, which also included Great Britain’s Steve Saunders, Lejeune, Italian’s Donato Miglio and Diego Bosis, but no one could grapple the title away from Michaud or Tarres, with the Spanish rider the more dominant.