Words: Trials Guru & Thore Evertson

Photos: Eric Kitchen; Ken Haydon; Jean-Claude Commeat (Claudio) and Rainer Heise.

With assistance from: Stig & Mats Igelström; Yrjö Vesterinen.

With special thanks to Charly Demathieu of Trial Online website for statistical information on FIM European and World Championships.

In Sweden, the surname ‘Thore’ is a variant of the name ‘Thor’, which comes from the old Norse name ‘Thorr’, the Scandinavian god of thunder.

Best remembered in the trials world as an Ossa rider, Thore Evertson was born in Karlskoga, the second-largest city in both Örebro County and the historical province of Värmland, Sweden on 13th December 1949. Thore lives there to this day. Now retired, his main occupation was that of a fireman. Thore married a local girl, Agneta, in May 1979, they had three children.

Evertson was active in trials from 1967 until 1980. His first trials machine was a 175cc Husqvarna which he modified to trials specification himself.

Thore Evertson: “The Husky was a ‘Silverpilen’ model which I bought for 100 pounds and drove it around Karlskoga city and many times to the raceway we have here called Gelleråsen. I would have loved to start racing there, but it was too expensive, so I had to start to modify the Husqvarna for trial competition.”

Later, he purchased a 250 Bultaco Sherpa Model 27 on which he entered his first Scottish Six Days in 1969. Thore finished in thirty-eighth position on 129 marks, gaining a well earned ‘Special First Class’ award and was also a member of the best foreign team, Karlskoga MK, which was awarded the Scotia Trophy.

The best overseas rider in the SSDT that year was Roland Bjork also from Sweden. The same year, Thore also finished in tenth position in Switzerland at the FIM European Championship at Oberiberg. He followed that the next year in Poland with a second place podium position at Szklarska Poreba.

From 1970 until 1976, Evertson rode only Ossa machines and was supported by the Scandinavian Ossa importer, Tan Trading who also sponsored Håkan Carlqvist on an Ossa when he first started racing motocross. Thore purchased his first Ossa trials machine, the 250cc ‘Pennine’ model, from Tan Trading in 1970.

With the Ossa, Thore competed in a further six Scottish Six Days events. In the 1972 trial he was the best foreign (Overseas) rider on the 250cc Ossa MAR, collecting the Edinburgh Trophy, he was thirteenth in the trial on 104 marks lost.

The following year, Mick Andrews had moved to ride for Yamaha which left Sheffield’s Dave Thorpe as the Ossa factory’s top runner and Evertson was in the top ten in the SSDT, claiming fifth position on 69 marks, just two marks adrift of Thorpe, with the winner, Bultaco mounted Malcolm Rathmell winning the trial on 52 marks. Evertson was also a day leader on the first, and best performer on the last day of the trial winning the Ossa UK award. Thore was then regarded by the organising committee as the first serious overseas contender of the SSDT, again he picked up the Edinburgh Trophy for the second year in succession.

1974 and Thore was back in Scotland in the month of May with the 250cc Ossa, and this time he claimed a podium position, coming back to the Edinburgh finish line in third position, winning the ‘Nelson Challenge Trophy’, having lost 55 marks with the event winner, Martin Lampkin on 41 marks. He won the Edinburgh Trophy three times in succession, never before achieved by a foreign rider. He also was joint leader on the first day of the event.

The following year, 1975 the Spanish Ossa was now available as a 310cc and Thore had some support from ‘Tor Line’, the Gothenburg shipping company, but Thore’s result was well below his 1974 finish, he was thirteenth on 94 marks, but those who were ahead of him were all now World Championship contenders, including Finland’s Yrjo Vesterinen. Charles Coutard was the best overseas rider on his factory Bultaco. Dave Thorpe had torn up his Ossa contract and was now riding for Bultaco, taking the first round win in the newly created World Trials Championship in Ireland in the February. In the Swedish round in August 1975, Thore could only manage a twenty-first place, with new Swedish kid on the block, Ulf Karlson (Montesa) coming second to eventual champion, Martin Lampkin (Bultaco).

Evertson speaks very highly of Dave Thorpe. Thore Evertson: “Dave Thorpe is a legend.”

Thore’s final attempt at the SSDT was 1976 on the 350 Ossa and he posted a fifth position on 68 marks with eventual winner Martin Lampkin on 37 marks who was the holder of the World Championship at that point in time. By now Thore was up against fellow Swede, Ulf Karlson of Montesa who would of course become World Champion a few years later in 1980.

Evertson’s best FIM World European Championship performance was in 1974 on the 250cc Ossa in Richany, Czechoslovakia, winning the round, he was 24 years of age at the time. He also scored a further four podium positions in the European series. He also was in the top fifteen ten times in the FIM World series from 1975 in the fourteen trials he took part in.

1976 was to be his last season on the Ossa and switched to a privately entered Bultaco for 1977 and until he retired from the sport.

Thore was Swedish Junior Trials champion in 1967 and was 1972 Senior champion.

Thore embarked on a short career in speedway from 1977 until 1979. He was the Clerk of the Course for the FIM World Championship trial in Karlskoga in 1980.

For the last twenty years, mountain bike riding has been his main interest. He has a love of the outdoors, becoming three times Swedish masters champion, World Champion for fireman-master class and a silver medalist in the World Championship masters +65 at Lillehammer in Norway in 2014.

Thore: “Trials played a large part in my life, but here are only bikes with pedals in my house now, no motorcycles.”

Thore Evertson: “This is a photo from the first time outside with my Trials Guru VIP cap. The stream you see me standing in was used many times when the Trösa Trial was part of the European Trial Championships. So we are talking the time of mid-sixties to early seventies. So Sammy Miller, Gordon Farley and perhaps Dave Thorpe among other British riders rode in this place.”

Yrjö Vesterinen on Thore Evertson: “The Viking warrior of Sweden, Thore Evertson, comes from a long line of high calibre Swedish trials riders.  The hey day of Swedish trials riding was in the 1970s.  There were two groups within Sweden.  One was from the Gothenburg area consisting of such famous riders as Ulf Karlson, Benny Sellman and Hans Bengtsson, all winners of European Championship trials, and Karlsson later becoming Sweden’s first and only World Champion in 1980.

The other centre of significance was the Karlskoga area.   For a number of years Karlskoga ran the famous Trösa trial, with sections not dissimilar to the Six Days.  Karlskoga boasted the highest concentration of streams and small rivers that I had ever seen before, when I first rode there in 1969 as a junior.

Karlskoga was the breeding ground for quality riders from the mid 1960s on.  Roland Bjork was the first.  Thore Evertson followed in Roland’s footsteps and became the golden boy of this famous trials area.  Thore shone in Scotland and became the first non Brit to challenge for the victory there.  He also won a European championship round, in Poland in 1970.

I remember Thore travelling mainly alone or with his girlfriend.  The Gothenburg gang travelled mainly together.  From experience I can say it would have been a long and lonely drive from Karlskoga to Barcelona.  Even longer departing from Finland! 

In order to succeed you needed to be some sort of semi professional traveller.  Borders were not open, every country had it’s own currency.  Bikes and cars needed to have international documents and drivers needed an international driving licence.  You needed to know what to eat and more importantly what not to!

Thore and I didn’t speak very much.  He seemed happiest doing his own thing.  He wasn’t unfriendly, just quiet.  Throughout his career, as far as I remember, he rode the Ossa.  Could he have done better on a Bultaco or Montesa?  Would he have done better with more factory support.  I would say inevitably yes.  He chose to stay loyal to Tan Trading, the Ossa importers in Stockholm. 

Nowadays Thore and I are Facebook friends.  Thore cycles a lot and posts nice pictures from around Karlskoga.  We do not speak with one another, but quite often we post thumbs up on the pictures we see.  Recently I saw Thore posting a couple of pictures of him riding in the dark with lights.  He said he likes cycling in the dark.  Funnily enough I like cycling in the dark too! Enjoy your cycling and keep well my warrior friend. – Yrjö Vesterinen“

Thore Evertson rode against the very best riders in the world of trials during his career with Ossa, beating many in the process, being a man of few words, his results speak for him.

‘Thore Evertson – Made In Sweden’ article is the copyright of Trials Guru, 2024.

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