Very good areas!
On August 30, 2015 it was 5 years since the death ( at the age of 79) of Ricardo Pinet and from this blog “in the first place” I would like to remember him, in fact I have never stopped doing it.
In our country, only motorcycle clubs that are members of the Royal Spanish Motorcycling Federation or the corresponding Autonomous Federation can organise competitions.
In every competition there has to be a race director and, in trials, the race director par excellence was Ricardo Pinet Saldaña (Barcelona, December 31, 1930).
Josep Isern was one of the driving forces behind children’s trials in the 70s. The organized trial courses for children were regular tests of the calendars. In 1980 Ricardo Pinet took over, creating the Moto Club 80 dedicated basically to the organization of trial events, but more specifically to children’s events with its special “Mecatecno challenge”, trials and motorcycles designed for children. A few years later, renowned pilots such as Adam Raga, David Cobos, etc. would emerge from this “Mecatecno challenge”.
I had known Pinet for more than 35 years, and the age difference meant that in my first steps in the world of motoring I saw him with the respect he deserved.
Little by little, with the passage of time, the meetings in the races, my time on the Red Cross Alpine Bike, in the trials, etc. where we shared meals, meetings, events… They made me not only respect him more, but I felt total admiration.
In recent times he had the luck of Vera Siebken, who got him out of the quagmire on more than one occasion. I was older, “screwed” and I feel very proud to be part of Motocat and the group of people who paid tribute to him during his lifetime, just over a year before his death, in July 2009. To do it posthumously, as usual, would not have been the same.
Pinet was what he was: extroverted, joking, sometimes – often – impertinent. He was funny or funny, but what no one can take away from him in his record as Race Director is how much he did, perhaps the most, for our beloved sport and, without hesitation, the human quality he had. How I miss him!
In the emotional tribute of July 11, 2009 in Ripoll, we made a booklet in which a series of images of a lifetime dedicated to the motorcycle were collected with different interventions of riders, motorcycle clubs, etc. but I stay with the dedication of Jaime Alguersuari, which I transcribe here and of which, Reading it, tears still flow from my eyes.
When Jerez explodes, or Montmeló sinks, or the Palau Sant Jordi bursts with joy; When our heroes seduce with their victories the 100,000 lovers who surrender to their genius, we are only seeing, paradoxically, the smallest part of the magic of seduction.
Behind these phenomena, behind these epic events, there is always someone anonymous and unknown to the regulars of the stands who gave their life, also their soul, so that these heroes who were once children would be a magnet for millions of people. Our anonymous hero, a necessary link to understand the last 50 years of Catalan and Spanish motorcycling, is called Ricardo Pinet, and today, we pay tribute to him. No one, I assure you, has seen the dawn more often than he, and no one, I assure you, gave up to sleep later than he did.
He directed so many races, that in accumulated hours we could go to the moon and back.
He timed so many starts and finishes that the sand on a beach wouldn’t be enough to beat his clock.
He was, and is, everyone’s friend, even a doctor, therapist, psychologist, and always, always, a jocular joker capable of turning the most tense situation into a smile.
Ricardo Pinet is written in the plural, he and she, Ricardo and Vera.
The mythical names of Don Paco Bultó, from Rabassa; Permanyer, the Girós, the Sanglas; They built motorcycles and were the hard core of our history.
Ricardo Pinet made the motorcycle become the sweet obsession of the weekend; Hundreds of thousands of fans whom he directed, timed and entertained.
Ricardo Pinet has become history today, and I, his best friend, a permanent apprentice in his work, certify it.
Congratulations, Ricardo and Vera!
Jaime Alguersuari
David has provided the means to channel any comments, but if you want to make it more personalized, you will always find me at bonaigua@bonaigua-trial.com
Lots of zeros!
Victor Martin
“Bonaiguá”
