A fabulous feeling of nostalgia hung heavily in the air at Ripoll when the third annual FIM Trial Vintage Trophy celebrated the sport’s rich history, sharing centre stage with the modern maestros of the Hertz FIM Trial World Championship at the TrialGP of Spain, the seventh and concluding round of the series’ Golden Jubilee year.
  • Sport’s illustrious history celebrated at TrialGP of Spain
  • Jean-Philippe Lerda retains the FIM Trial Vintage Trophy
  • Philippe Berlatier completes FIM Trial Vintage Motorcycle Trophy hat-trick

Run under ‘no-stop’ rules with scores from Friday’s competition combined with today’s results and then moderated according to a rider’s age to determine the overall winner, old friendships were strengthened and rivalries renewed as famous names from the championship’s glittering past came together to compete for the FIM Trial Vintage Trophy and FIM Trial Vintage Motorcycle Trophy.

Having failed to retain the FIM Trial Vintage Trophy last year at Auron in France, five-time Trial des Nations winner Philippe Berlatier was back looking for revenge and the fifty-nine-year-old Frenchman drew first blood on Friday with victory on his 1981 350cc Bultaco from his compatriot and defending champion Jean-Philippe Lerda who was riding a 1982 240cc Fantic.

Showing that he was still a force to be reckoned with, sixty-two-year-old Gilles Burgat – who was FIM Trial World Champion in 1981 and to this day remains the youngest rider ever to win the crown – piloted his 1982 280cc SWM into third before a big gap back to Swiss rider Oskar Walther who was mounted on a 1982 250cc Fantic.

With sections designed to be appropriate for the age of the motorcycles, Lerda struck back today with his total of two on observation putting him six clear of Berlatier and once the results had been moderated it was the thirty-six-year-old who narrowly retained the FIM Trial Vintage Trophy with Burgat third ahead of a distant Walther.

“I’m very happy to win today,” said Lerda. “This is a dream for me.”

While disappointed to lose out to his younger rival, Berlatier had the consolation of winning a third consecutive FIM Trial Vintage Motorcycle Trophy for best performance on an authentic vintage motorcycle ahead of Switzerland’s Hans Zenklusen who was riding a 1982 250cc Fantic.

Competing over a modified route, competition was also fierce in the Trial Vintage Support class where following Friday’s opening day it was incredibly close between home rider Josep Auferil Pamplona on his 1985 230cc Montesa and Italy’s Enzo Afri on a 1975 125cc Guzzi with French rider Patrick Pissis steering his 1989 249cc Fantic into third.

Picking up where they left off at the start of day two, sixty-one-year-old Afri turned the tables on sixty-six-year-old Auferil Pamplona to claim the overall with sixty-nine-year-old Pissis, the oldest rider in the competition, completing the podium.

Away from the action, an exhibition of championship-winning motorcycles inside the cloister of the beautiful Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll – which was open for visitors following the prize-giving ceremony and World Championship Anniversary Celebration – proved incredibly popular.

With three-time FIM Trial World Champion Yrjo Vesterinen acting as Master of Ceremony and former world champions including Jordi Tarres, Tommi Ahvala, Marc Colomer, Dougie Lampkin, Takahisa Fujinami, Adam Raga, Toni Bou, Iris Kramer and Thierry Michaud, the FIM Trial Commission Director, all in attendance, it was a magical two days of nostalgia.

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