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VOL. 53 ISSUE 22 JUNE 7, 2016 P127 early '70s and began giving trials schools in Ameri- ca. Shortly after, for the first time America began hosting rounds of the World Trial Championship. Some of the most famous young students who would go on to great things were none other than Hall of Famers Jeff Ward, Kevin Schwantz and Bernie Schreiber. Schwantz said Andrews was one of his first motorcycle heroes. "He would come out and run schools at our place," Schwantz said. "I don't remember that much about what he taught us, the main thing I remember about Mick was that he used to stay at my uncle's place and as soon as I'd get off from school I'd go and beat him at pool. I remember being out there and watching him, but at that stage, I was maybe 10 and just wanted to get on and do it." Andrews said that he saw that Schwantz had a special talent even then. His friend Dick Mann kept Andrews posted on how Schwantz was doing as he rose in the road racing ranks in America. He feels Kevin's trials background definitely gave him an edge on his competition. "The trials riding would give him the throttle control and control of tire grip," Andrews ex- plained. "Watch him on the road racer and you can see that he's incredible at finding, letting go and then getting the grip back again, and that is something trials riders can do. You steer it with body weight, weighting the footrests and things like that; Kevin's got that to a T. He's got that little touch that makes a champion." Yamaha wanted to develop a trials machine and they knew exactly who they wanted to consult on the project, and it was Andrews. So in 1973 Andrews moved from Ossa to Yamaha. He was hugely responsible for the development of the Yamaha TY line, which would become one of the most popular lineups of trials motorcycles of all time. When testing the Yamaha, Andrews purportedly had Yamaha engineers move the footpeg posi- tion 16 times before finding perfect feel. It was much the same with spring rates, gear ratios and brakes. Andrews' schools introduced hundreds, if not thousands of riders to trials. He had a unique flare for teaching with just enough input without overloading a new rider's brain with too much detail. "You can't really tell a rider how to ride a ma- chine," he claimed. "You can show him how to do it, but not tell him. Each rider has to make up his own mind on how to ride his machine." Of course, ever the showman, Andrews always took the time to give his young students a thrill by clearing some massive rock, or other obstacle, that looked absolutely impossible. "Cameras were clicking and kids were cheer- ing," one attendee remembers. A little known aspect of Andrews' career was that he was an excellent motocross rider as well, and he competed in MX in his early years. Andrews happened to be in the country when he was asked by Ward Robinson if he would help layout a new track he was building. According to former Cycle News associate editor Gary Van Voorhis, "It was a fall day, cold and gray. Andrews and [American motocross rider] Barry Higgins were let loose on a lush green hillside in New Berlin, New York, and carved out a serpen- tine racing line on a course that would become, in my opinion, America's greatest natural mo- tocross facility." Van Voorhis was speaking of course of Unadilla. So in addition to all his amaz- ing credits in trials, Andrews, along with Higgins, can lay claim to being the riders who designed one of the world's iconic motocross tracks. Andrews continues to be an ambassador to the sport of trials to this day at age 71. He was hon- ored this past November by the FIM as a Legend at its year-end banquet in Jerez, Spain. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives