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A detailed career interview with 3 x World motorcycle Trials Champion Yrjö Vesterinen. |
Yrjo Vesterinen requires no introduction to triaIs fans. The 3 times World Trials champion epitomized a new wave of professionalism that swept through the sport. His dedication, attention to detail and unflappable character resulted in great success in competition and also offered an ideal platform for sponsors, allowing Vesterinen to remain a full time professional sportsman. The list of achievements tells the story of a long and full career for the then King of Trial. Much has been written about Vesty, in the form of editorials. Since his retirement from professional competition, Vesty has remained at the heart of the Bultaco scene within the UK, as well as further a field. After his riding profession was over, Vesty started Apico from humble beginnings in Surrey. They later relocated to Burnley.
Retrotrials wanted to hear Yrjo's experiences straight from the horses mouth and were lucky enough to secure an exclusive interview with him at his home in Lancashire. Vesty now concentrates much of his time on his impressive motorcycle collection. This features some wonderful bikes, concentrating on those with great competition history. In fact some of the most successful off road motorcycles ever are housed here, however few people have actually seen this .
Then ...just as this interview was nearing completion and ready to go live, Vesty advised us that his collection had been re housed in better premises which were far far better. So, with camera in hand, Retrotrials took the journey North , once again to feast our eyes.
These photographs of this collection are here for you to see, in addition to many from Vesty's own personal collection.
Retrotrials wanted to hear Yrjo's experiences straight from the horses mouth and were lucky enough to secure an exclusive interview with him at his home in Lancashire. Vesty now concentrates much of his time on his impressive motorcycle collection. This features some wonderful bikes, concentrating on those with great competition history. In fact some of the most successful off road motorcycles ever are housed here, however few people have actually seen this .
Then ...just as this interview was nearing completion and ready to go live, Vesty advised us that his collection had been re housed in better premises which were far far better. So, with camera in hand, Retrotrials took the journey North , once again to feast our eyes.
These photographs of this collection are here for you to see, in addition to many from Vesty's own personal collection.
Introduction by Dave Renham of Bultacouk.com.
There aren't many people around the globe who are as knowledgeable and immersed as heavily into the Bultaco scene as Dave Renham. So, who better to provide this introduction.
There aren't many people around the globe who are as knowledgeable and immersed as heavily into the Bultaco scene as Dave Renham. So, who better to provide this introduction.
I suppose I'm reasonably qualified than many to write a foreword on Vesty as I have known him a long long time. I started working for Comerfords Bultaco way back in 1977 when he used to regularly visit the competition shop. They certainly broke the mould when they made Vesty. Here was a quiet, very polite Finn, who, accompanied by his brother Jussi, just kept themselves to themselves. Vesty’s dry character and sense of humour earnt him the nick name “Happy Jack” pretty early on. Vesty and his brother learnt pretty early on that in Reg Mays world of “Cut and weld, bash it and have a go” as well as throwing a few F***S in for good measure that he could do as much on his own, so he did. Out of this environment and “needs must” was born the Vesty we know and admire today. Vesty is without doubt a man of detail and it was this detail in a World of bash it and see that secured him his Championship wins and later his business success.
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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1992 and Apico was in full swing . In fact business was so good that Vesty treated himself to a colourful new sweater :). Dont laugh , we all had them . Come to think of it , its all i still have :)
A detailed career interview with 3 x World motorcycle Trials Champion Yrjö Vesterinen.
Apico started from a basic building behind a plumber's merchants in Send. Vesty has been in some pretty involved business battles with other suppliers and he usually comes out better than the others. He puts his heart and money into developing the Apico products and if they didn’t work out exactly how he wanted them, rather than compromising, he’d shelve the whole product and move on, coming back to it later. When he was developing his range of leather gloves, he laid out all the different colours, shapes and sizes that he’d developed on the table and said “Try them on Dave. Feel the quality, feel the quality”. It was this 100% focused mind that got him where he is today. In fact somewhere around this place is a paper weight which found it's way from Vesty’s office to here. It reads “I might not always be right, but I'm never wrong”. Today, as Vesty is a keen Bultaco restorer and collector, the tables have turned and we can now dictate the terms to him, rather than him to me. I can’t tell you how much pleasure that brings me.
success
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11 x finnish trials champion
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The day
Retrotrials started its journey to meet Yrjo at 5.30 am, when I began the long drive up from the south of England, to the Apico HQ premises in Burney, where we had agreed to meet. I had never been here before and was impressed with the size and professionalism of the premises. Of course, I wasn't surprised though, because although I had never met Vesty before, I had read and heard a lot about him. One resounding quality of Vrjo's that I had been reminded of, time and time again, was his steely determination to take his time and get things right. But enough of this editorial. Retrotrials is about interviews and hearing first hand from the Champions of our favourite sport.