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13 - A detailed career interview with 3 x World motorcycle Trials Champion Yrjö Vesterinen |
This is the photo I have of when I rode a 100cc Yamaha Trailmaster in yellow. It had an electric start with a battery. I fitted it with Greeves forks and a Bultaco silencer. I was 15 here. Soon after the last schoolboy trials on the moped I bought this bike, but I was to young to ride it on the road but I did 2 trials as a guest rider. I wasn't allowed in the results but I would have won both trials in the junior class if I had been allowed to ride officially.
Here I am at the same trial with my woolly hat on and an old cotton waxed jacket.
This is a note that was given to Yrjo by a friend.
A detailed career interview with 3 x World motorcycle Trials Champion Yrjö Vesterinen
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A detailed career interview with 3 x World motorcycle Trials Champion Yrjö Vesterinen
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A detailed career interview with 3 x World motorcycle Trials Champion Yrjö Vesterinen
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A detailed career interview with 3 x World motorcycle Trials Champion Yrjö Vesterinen
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A detailed career interview with 3 x World motorcycle Trials Champion Yrjö Vesterinen
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A detailed career interview with 3 x World motorcycle Trials Champion Yrjö Vesterinen
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And how did you get on with your first moped?
In the first moped series, I got second overall. It was a series of 4 to 5 trials and I won some, I didn't win all of them but I won some of them and I got second overall for the year. In the second year when I was 15, I won it overall and I won every event. It was later that year that I bought a modified 100cc Yamaha. It had Greeves front forks and a Bultaco exhaust, it had all sorts of things chopped off and welded back on. I then went on to ride to trials on that bike. I had to ride outside the official event because I did not have either a driving licence or a competition licence, even still they allowed me to ride and I won both of those events in the junior class aged 15 in 1968.
Have you ever been tempted to ride any speed events? Have you ever ridden any speed events ?.
In the first moped series, I got second overall. It was a series of 4 to 5 trials and I won some, I didn't win all of them but I won some of them and I got second overall for the year. In the second year when I was 15, I won it overall and I won every event. It was later that year that I bought a modified 100cc Yamaha. It had Greeves front forks and a Bultaco exhaust, it had all sorts of things chopped off and welded back on. I then went on to ride to trials on that bike. I had to ride outside the official event because I did not have either a driving licence or a competition licence, even still they allowed me to ride and I won both of those events in the junior class aged 15 in 1968.
Have you ever been tempted to ride any speed events? Have you ever ridden any speed events ?.
A detailed career interview with 3 x World motorcycle Trials Champion Yrjö Vesterinen.
Yes, I did one Enduro on my Bultaco but that didn't turn out very well as the Bultaco more or less disintegrated. I did finish the event and I did some good times on some of the stages and special test, but through punches and a bike falling to bits I had to ride a lot slower to keep the bike in one piece.
When was the first time you got noticed within trials as a rider by someone who saw you as a potential top rider? Was this around the age of 15 or did it take a little bit longer?
Oh no no no, at this time nobody was getting help in trials from anybody. I think in about 1970 or 1971 I got my first sponsorship deal whereby Castrol gave me some free oil, also the Montesa importer for the 71 season, they sold me a discounted bike so that was the first time I got a little bit of help.
So between you having the Yamaha and then the Montesa, what are you riding between those years?
I rode the Yamaha for the first part of 1969 and then got a 250cc Bultaco. In the summer of 1969 I won every trial I rode. The icing on the cake was at the end of 1969 at one of the last trials of the Scandinavian Championship in Norway. The federation allowed me to ride in the adults, although I was only technically a junior rider, they allowed me to take part as an adult, and I finish second on equal points to the winner, and I think that was a bit of an eye opener as a fellow who won it was my friend Tuono.
When was the first time you got noticed within trials as a rider by someone who saw you as a potential top rider? Was this around the age of 15 or did it take a little bit longer?
Oh no no no, at this time nobody was getting help in trials from anybody. I think in about 1970 or 1971 I got my first sponsorship deal whereby Castrol gave me some free oil, also the Montesa importer for the 71 season, they sold me a discounted bike so that was the first time I got a little bit of help.
So between you having the Yamaha and then the Montesa, what are you riding between those years?
I rode the Yamaha for the first part of 1969 and then got a 250cc Bultaco. In the summer of 1969 I won every trial I rode. The icing on the cake was at the end of 1969 at one of the last trials of the Scandinavian Championship in Norway. The federation allowed me to ride in the adults, although I was only technically a junior rider, they allowed me to take part as an adult, and I finish second on equal points to the winner, and I think that was a bit of an eye opener as a fellow who won it was my friend Tuono.
A detailed career interview with 3 x World motorcycle Trials Champion Yrjö Vesterinen.
We both cleaned the course and then there was a special test which I lost, but we beat all the Swedes, Danes and the Norwegians and I was so only 16. This event was in Norway in Oslo. I travel there with some of my friends as I've already described and I rode a Bultaco until the end of the year and then I bought a 1970 Montesa. I won the Finnish Championship in 1970. I finished second again in the Scandinavian Championship and I got my best result in the European Championship in Finland, where I got 4th place.
What age did you leave school?
I persevered and did all my A-levels, so I left school when I was 19 instead of going to university and very much to the dismay of my parents, I announce to my parents I was going to become a professional trials rider. They question me hard about this saying, well are you serious about this, how you going to make a living? I explain to them that as a matter of fact, I have been offered a contract by Bultaco. I showed them the contract and my mother read it through, my mother then said ok then, have a go.
What age did you leave school?
I persevered and did all my A-levels, so I left school when I was 19 instead of going to university and very much to the dismay of my parents, I announce to my parents I was going to become a professional trials rider. They question me hard about this saying, well are you serious about this, how you going to make a living? I explain to them that as a matter of fact, I have been offered a contract by Bultaco. I showed them the contract and my mother read it through, my mother then said ok then, have a go.