For many years, trials riding was a peculiarly British sport, not exclusively though and there have always been foreign riders in the Six Days, just the sport was more dominant in the UK. Punditswould win. Once the Spanish industry got rolling in the sport it wasn’t just their UK team riders who went to the Highlands in May; then the Japanese did the same; then the Italians joined the regulars such as Thore Evertson and Vesty. The Scottish could have gone to a non-UK rider well before it did but it was to be 1980 when the occasion happened, but no one in the UK could read about it as there was a press strike and our go-to source for reports – The MotorCycle – was off the newsstands for a lot of April, all of May and some of June. So, because of this I can’t give a blow by blow, dab by dab precis of the 1980 event detailing who led on which day, who had heartaches, luck and stamina. We do know Bernie Schreiber, the reigning world champion, led on day one, then later in the week Rob Shepherd took the top spot before Yrjo Vesterinen’s legendary cool kicked in, and by Saturday it was clear the trophy would be going to Finland. It wasn’t just the UK press having disputes and while Vesty is forever linked with Bultaco, this factory was in trouble and the Finn was, for 1980, Montesa-mounted. In quick succession the trophy went to France, America, Spain, France and Spain again before Steve Saunders brought it to the UK again.
