Mick Andrews, Yrjo Vesterinen and Bernie Schreiber will be in Sant Julià de Lòria on the last weekend of June
The 2 dies de Trial Clàssic de Sant Julià de Lòria, scheduled for the 28th, 29th and 30th June, has closed a very impressive list of competitors. A total of 250 riders have gone through the process of registration for the event, even though the race set up by the Andorra Trial Club is considered one of the most difficult as far as trial goes.
Amongst these competitors, the presence of three former trial Europe/World champions stands out. Mick Andrews won the European Championship, back then the World Championship did not exist, in 1971 and 1972 riding an Ossa.
The Bultaco rider during the ’70s, Yrjo Vesterinen, won the World Championship in 1976, 1977 and 1978, whilst another rider of the same Catalan brand, Bernie Schreiber, won the title in 1979.
A few other names also stand out in the long list of participants in the Andorran event: Robbin Luscombe, 12 times British champion in trial with sidecars, Mick Grant, avid trial racer and regular at the Tourist Trophy, and French rider Charles Coutard, amongst others.
Joan Pere Santuré, one of the endorsers of the 2 dies de Trial Clàssic de Sant Julià, explained as follows some of the distinctive features of the list of participants: Without a doubt the level of the riders is up there. As it is the second edition of the event, there’s been a natural selection since some of the competitors who came last year won’t be back again. These riders considered the route to be too demanding for them. He also added: I have received a few calls asking about the difficulty of the zones, my answer can only be: the environment is what it is and we can’t decrease the difficulty. It’s a very physically demanding event with an overall slope of 1800 metres.
In spite of this tough aspect of the race, the list of competitors had to be increased due to the demand: That’s right, we had set a maximum of 200 competitors and decided to increase it to 250. The list includes riders of many different nationalities. As far as the categories go, in yellow (minor difficulty) there will be 50% of the riders, whilst another 40% will wear green (medium difficulty) and the rest will be in blue (major difficulty).
The increase in the registration list has translated into a bigger effort in setting up the route: Evidently, one of the issues, which has arisen having 250 riders in the parc ferme, is the traffic jam that can occur especially at the beginning of each competition day. We will try to speed up as much as possible the first zones adding extra help at the check points.
We have also planned for some of the zones not too have all three categories in the same area. Overall, the riders have to overcome 20 and 19 zones respectively (each day) and we have set up 23 zones.
Andrews, Vesterinen and Schreiber are legends for trial fans, according to Santuré: They are three champions in all senses of the word. Mick Andrews, who is 75 years old, is still up for some trial racing. Vesterinen together with his friend Luscombe don’t hesitate to drive for 10 hours in order to be able to compete with their motorbikes. Meanwhile, Schreiber is working hard in a project for an itinerant trial school. Andorra seems to be one of his objectives at the moment.
In two weeks, the Plaça de la Germandat of Sant Juliá de Lòria will be invaded by classic motorbikes from different ages. The 28th of June will present for all trial fans an excellent opportunity to admire close by some motorbikes and riders with a long history behind them.
 Press service.
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