EAST Lancashire may seem an unlikely place to find a Finnish former world trials champion, but Yrjo Vesterinen would not want to live anywhere else.

Vesterinen honed his skills as a teenager in Espoo, just outside Helsinki, and went on to win the world title three times between 1976 and 1978 in a sport where riders complete an obstacle course while attempting to avoid touching the ground with their feet.

But after moving to England in the early 1980s, now the 59-year-old lives in Lumb near Rossendale and operates the Burnley-based business Apico – selling off-road parts and clothing for trials, motocross and various other motorcycling disciplines.

“I moved to England to compete in the British Championship in 1982 and then I married an English lady in 1983,” he said.

“I lived down south for a long time but then eight years ago I moved to Lumb near Rossendale.

“We live on a hillside, it’s really nice. I’ve been looking for something like it for a long time with the view. Down south you don’t get those sorts of views.

“I started the business in 1984. It was not something I had planned, I had to find something to do to make a living, it was a gamble but luckily it seems to have paid off.”

Vesterinen’s Finnish back-ground was actually a disadvantage in the world of trials, but he found he had the talent to forge a highly successful pro-fessional career in the sport.

“Trials wasn’t big at all in Finland, it was a minority sport,” he said. “It is big in southern Europe. Spain are probably the best, then Britain – Dougie Lampkin was a champion – and countries like France, Italy, Belgium and Germany.

“It would be difficult in somewhere like the Netherlands because it’s too flat.

“I started when I got my first motorcycle licence at the age of 16, although I had been riding on a moped before that.

“I just wanted to do something different. In Finland there was ice hockey, skiing and a bit of football in the summer.

“But I chose the right sport. It is one of the least expensive forms of motor sport, even travelling abroad cost much less.

“I lived in Espoo and there was a drop at the back of the house. I didn’t know it at first but it was perfect for practising, to the annoyance of the neighbours!

“I had to go abroad though if I wanted be a professional rider, the standard wasn’t great in Finland.

“I was proud to become Finnish champion, then Scandinavian champion then world champion.

“For most people you don’t think you are going to be world champion until you achieve it and fulfil your dreams, you have to put in a lot of work. It was worth it.”

Vesterinen will travel to Fort William early next month to visit the Scottish Six Days Trial, one of his sport’s leading events and one he finally won in 1980.

“I go every year,” he said. “When I competed in it I found it difficult, at first I didn’t like the event.

“I didn’t take part in 1978 because I was so cheesed off about it in 1977. With the snow, the sleet, and the cold, it was not what you wanted to do as a profession if you didn’t have to do it. But I was proud to win it in the end.

“I will go in the paddock and see people I haven’t seen for a year. It is important for the business too.

“We sponsor a couple of motocross riders and try to help people in trials too.

“You can’t just take from the sport, you have to give too.”