1979 FIM World Motorcycle Trials Season

The 1979 World trials season consisted of twelve trials events. It began on 10 February, with round one in Newtownards, Ireland and ended with round twelve in Ricany, Czechoslovakia on 16 September.

Season summary[]

Bernie Schreiber would claim his first World trials championship in 1979, the first American to win the FIM World Trials Championship. ^[1]

1979 World trials season calendar[]

^[2]

Round	Date	Trial	Venue	Trial GP
1	10 February	Ireland	Newtownards	1) Rob Shepherd 2) John Reynolds 3) Martin Lampkin
2	17 February	Great Britain	Rhayader	1) Malcolm Rathmell 2) Yrjo Vesterinen 3) Martin Lampkin
3	25 February	Belgium	Bilstain	1) Yrjo Vesterinen 2) Martin Lampkin 3) Malcolm Rathmell
4	4 March	Netherlands	Norg	1) Ulf Karlson 2) Yrjo Vesterinen 3) Nigel Birkett
5	11 March	Spain	Matadepera	1) Bernie Schreiber 2) Jaime Subira 3) Marlan Whaley
6	18 March	France	Montbelliard	1) Ulf Karlson 2) Bernie Schreiber 3) Charles Coutard
7	10 June	Canada	Calgary	1) Malcolm Rathmell 2) Martin Lampkin 3) Bernie Schreiber
8	17 June	United States	Pueblo	1) Bernie Schreiber 2) Rob Shepherd 3) Martin Lampkin
9	15 July	Italy	Mezzo Lago	1) Charles Coutard 2) Bernie Schreiber 3) Rob Shepherd
10	19 August	Sweden	Boras	1) Bernie Schreiber 2) Ulf Karlson 3) Antonio Gorgot
11	26 August	Finland	Espoo	1) Manuel Soler 2) Ulf Karlson 3) Yrjo Vesterinen
12	16 September	Czechoslovakia	Ricany	1) Bernie Schreiber 2) Ulf Karlson 3) Martin Lampkin

Scoring system[]

Points were awarded to the top ten finishers. All twelve rounds counted for the World Trials class.

World Trials final standings[]

^[3]

Pos Rider Machine IRL GBR BEL NED SPA FRA CAN USA ITA SWE FIN CZE Pts Notes 1 Bernie Schreiber Bultaco - 7 6 4 1 2 3 1 2 1 7 1 115 first American to win a trials world championship 2 Yrjo Vesterinen Bultaco 5 2 1 2 4 4 4 6 6 4 3 4 105 1979 Finnish champion 3 Ulf Karlson Montesa 9 - 9 1 6 1 7 5 4 2 2 2 93 1979 Swedish Champion 4 Martin Lampkin Bultaco 3 3 2 6 5 5 2 3 - 5 - 3 87 5 Malcolm Rathmell Montesa 4 1 3 7 - 7 1 4 8 9 4 - 77 1979 British champion 6 Rob Shepherd HRC Honda 1 - 8 - 7 6 6 2 3 8 9 - 59 7 Charles Coutard SWM - 5 4 9 - 3 9 10 1 - - 10 45 1979 French Champion 8 Manuel Soler Bultaco 10 - - - 9 - - - 5 7 1 9 30 9 Marland Whaley Montesa - - 10 - 3 9 5 8 9 - - - 24 1979 US NATC Champion[4] 10 Jean-Marie Lejeune Montesa 8 9 5 5 - - 8 7 - - - - 24 11 Jaime Subira Montesa - 8 - - 2 - - - 10 - 10 6 22 12 Nigel Birkett Montesa 7 4 - 3 - - - - - - - - 22 13 Antonio Gorgot Bultaco 6 10 - - - - - - - 3 6 - 21 1979 Spanish Champion 14 John Reynolds Suzuki 2 - - - - - - - - - - - 12 15 Eddy Lejeune HRC Honda - - - - - - 10 9 - 6 - 7 12 16 Mick Andrews Ossa - - 7 - - 8 - - - 10 - 8 11 17 Timo Ryysy SWM - - - 10 - - - - - - 5 - 7 18 Jean-Luc Colson Montesa - - - - - - - - - - - 5 6 1979 Belgian Champ 19 Joe Wallman Bultaco - 6 - - - - - - - - - - 5 20 Danilo Galeazzi SWM - - - - - - - - 7 - - - 4 21 Anttoni Vesterinen Bultaco - - - - - - - - - - 8 3 21 Jo Jose Bultaco - - - - 8 - - - - - - - 3 21 Claude Goset Montesa - - - 8 - - - - - - - - 3 24 Ettore Baldini Bultaco - - - - - 10 - - - - - - 1 1979 Italian Champion[5] 24 Felix Krahnstover Montesa - - - - 10 - - - - - - - 1 1979 German Champion[6] References[] ^ "bernie schreiber report". retrotrials.com. Retrieved 10 August 2020. ^ "world trials 1979 schedule". Retrieved 10 August 2020. ^ "World 1979 standings". trialonline.org. Retrieved 10 August 2020. ^ "death of marland whaley". trialsguru.net. Retrieved 10 August 2020. ^ "baldini passes". phototrial.it. Retrieved 10 August 2020. ^ "trials in germany". trialsguru.net. Retrieved 10 August 2020.