Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141050
-;:, '" Cycle NelNs Exclusive! c "o .HS English Is Not So Good, His Racing IS! I '" 0M .... en ..: '" :E ~ w Z W ..J U > U ~, ... -.. darno Saarinen Winning the 200 Miles 01 Daytona ,., by Peter Grufstedt T he Saturday ev ening before th e Da ytona 200 I had the o pp o rt unity t o spend time with the curre n t 250 R oad R a cin g World C ha mp io n. Jam o Saarinen. I can only say that I h ave never met a more mod est supe rstar. The World Ch ampion has b een charac terized as bein g "cocky " and I don ' t feel thi s is fair. First of all, J am o does no t speak impeccabl e English an d , at t imes, his choice of words can be in te rp reted in co rrectly. An d second ly , though he is opinionated, he usually does n o t volunte er a critical opinion unless pushed. A World Ch ampio n with his accomp lish me nts is e nt it led to his opinions, b u t I de fin it ely did no t find him "cocky" in any mann er. Jarno Karl Saa rine n wa s bo rn to Anna Maija a nd J o rma S aarin en o n Decem b er II , 1945 an d ex pe rien ce d a nor ma l childhood with his three brothers. He attended p ublic school and then en te red the University of Finland where he later was awarded a degree in auto motive engineering. On the last day of 1971 he marri ed his wife S oil i and , though they don't h ave a perman en t home of th eir ow n ye t, the y reside in T urk u, Fin land . llis o n ly o ther i n teres t, aside from mo t or cy cle racing is ph o t ograph y an d fil m makin g: to capture the people an d th e co un tries h e has visi te d an d of mo torcy cle racing. fo r future mem o ries to reflect o n. J amo first ro de a mo torcy cle when he w as ni n e' y ears o ld . His o lder brothe r sat behind h im and instructed him as 10 its op eration . llis in terest devel op ed from tha t po int. A t se vent ee n, he en tered his first race , an ice race, and fini sh ed third. He co n tin ued to ice race fo r fo ur more year s with great success. In 19 64 he entered h is first road race as an FIl\I J unior and three years la ter o btained his Senior lice nse. "Norma lly, at th at tim e road race tra c ks were san d, maybe all sand o r partly san d, so we h ad moto cr oss b ike s w ith very wide h andlebars ." He feels th at hi s experience in ice racin g help ed him immen sel y in road racin g becaus e "in Euro pe we arc racin g even if it is rainin g." As a result, he achi eved a g r ea te r sense o f feeling for the mo to rcycle and the trac k. H e e nte re d h is fi rst W orld Champion sh ip race, the Finnis h Grand Pri x, in 1968, and finis he d ele ven th in the 125 class. " T h e first time I went to the Continent racing Grand Pri x was 1970 and that year I d id nearly a whole seas on but I had to leave off th e last three Grand Prix b ecause of my studies." That yea r he finis hed fourth in the Worl d Championship standings in the 250 class. lIis first fu ll season on the Worl d Champ io nsh ip circ uit wa s 1971 whe n he w as second o vera ll in th e 35 0 class and thi rd overall in the 250 class. In 19 72 , J am o finally d id itall,winning the Wor ld Cham pionship in th e 250 and finis hing second in th e 35 0 class, behind only Agostini o n the w o rks 1\I V' s. Si nce Jamo started riding on th e Wo rld Championship Circui t in 1970, he h as don e a ll t he wo rk o n his motorcycle himself. It w as a " lot of w ork and took all o f my free tim e." , "N o rmally the ni gh t b efor e th e ra ce I had to do the cran ks on bo th bikes an d it meant th a t I got very littl e slee p ." Last year he received mo to rcy cles an d spare par ts fro m the Finnish distributor for Ya maha, but he still had to d o all the wrench wo rk hi mse lf, as he co uld n ' t affo rd a mech an ic , "This (D ay to na) is the firs t race that I have had a mechan ic. " So ili, J amo 's wi fe, was his b iggest helpe r and Was with him all th e time . "A ctu ally she was my mech an ic ." She look ed after everythi ng else . She made the food, wash ed the clothes, too k lap times, and kept an extensive accoun t of eve ry thing that was spe nt, right d o wn to the -last nul and bol t. That wav he knew exactly ho w mu ch mil eage wa s o n each piece of the mo to rcycle . Day t on a was the firs t im por ta nt race wh ere Soili did not accom pany h er hu sh and, fo r th ey fel t that th e air fare was t o o mu ch to spe n d for a we ek in th e paddo ck. She will, h owever , jo in him in It aly as he is to race th ere fo r th e next five co nsecutive Sundays. Ja rno feels t hat " Wo rl d Champio nshi p racing is very d ifferen t from American raci ng because the m on ey is no t so big , but I thin k tha t the best th in g I lik e abo ut Contine ntal Gr and Pri x racin g is t he a tmosp he re . A ll th e riders are goo d friends and we are lik e a famil y ," However, he d oesn 't feel that the cro wns , tn e e xcr te m e n t , o r the atmosphere makes him go fas te r, an d he di sregards th e new sp ap ers and all o ther forms of pressure . " I have my ow n speed. I think that -if you feel the pr essure th en yo u have t o go fas ter, and the n it is no more." He feels th at he "can earn enou gh to live " by racing o n th e Grand Prix Circuit, but because of the small purs~s involved, h e "knows of many people in Europe who have difficulties" because of ba d luck and p o o r resul ts, "We have had t o b e very . tigh t so me times" . living and eating o ut of a van . Unless yo u are a p aid fac tory rider, it is very difficult t o make en ds mee t and live co mfo rta b ly. " 1 started to race on the Continent because I w an ted to see fore ign co un tries and people. O f co urse life like that , living in a truck... wi th tha t way of livin g o ne may get fed up, but I thi nk It is fu n for two or th ree years. It is okay for m e, T he m on ey is n ot so imp ort an t, it is good b ut no t the m ost important. " What is im portant is " a good life, good rela ti on s, good fri ends and so o n. Yeah, mon ey it helps a lot but it is not all. One may h ave a lot o f mon ey , but he st ill ma y no t be happy , " What wou ld he ulti ma tely like t o d o ? "I have a p lan. I did i t already at the end of 1970 when I talked to the press people and everybody that I am going to stop raci ng. because at that time it was very expensive fo r me. I had private bikes an d I sho uld have stop pe d, anyway I be lieve so, but the Finnish imp orter asked me to come and see him an d he o ffe red me tw o b ikes and sp are p ar ts. I said 'A ll rig h t' and promised t o ride o ne mo re year, and if it went well, then ano ther o ne , "The first year was '71 and it we nt qu ite good an d the second year was last year, a nd afte r th at I wo uld , have stopped but the sit ua tio n has ch anged co mp le tely . T he Yam aha fac tory came and offered me a place as a fa ctory rid er. T h ey o ffe red me a c on trac t, which means that t hey pay me some mon ey , They give me a mechanic ; th ey are go ing to look af ter my bik es, t o transport th em and so on . T ha t's wh y if I stopped racing , last year, m aybe afterw ards I w ould h ave regretted it. I will d o th is year, ma ybe nex t year, but no t very lo ng, T he n I wan t to stay in Finla nd as an engi neer . I lik e Finland very much and would lik e t o stay there. to Ra ising a f am i ly is also a co nsi de ra tio n and J am o and Soili have talked it o ver and hav e decid ed to wai t until h e has finished ra cin g before they sh ould make a fa mily . "I n Europe there are m an y rid ers that h ave sm a ll children that are tr avelin g with them and I thin k that th e paddock is not su ch a good pla yground fo r children. " Is th e Flying Finn a n ational hero ? "Actually not. Mo t o r sport in Fi nland is no t so popular, n o t vervwell kn own , b ut th at is a thi ng th at I like very mu ch , I don 't wan t to b e a hero o r so popular ...I kn ow m o st of th e Finnish pe ople kn ow me b y n ame, but n ot by sigh t, an d tha t is pretty good. Because when I sto p riding and st art w orking as a private man , to be well kn own I think it is not good . It is always disturbing yo ur private life." J ar n o has no great desire t o race in th e United States, tho ugh he wo uld lik e to race a t Ontario. Bu t Ontar io's sche duled d ate fo r th is May clashes with the Austrian Grand Prix, wh ich he mu st r a c e. U n le s s Ontario sh ould be res ch eduled , due to track managem ent diffi cul ti es, to a later date, ,he will have to forego it. . Pressed t o reveal hi s tho ugh ts in A me rica he felt that it was co mp le tely di ff er ent fro m the Con tin en t in its life sty le. " Li ke racing fo r instance, it is mu ch more sho w than serious racin g. T h at is my o pinio n ." He also feels th at Amer ica n race ci rcu its , from his limited ex perience here, are co nsiderably safer with larger run-off areas than their Continental co un terp arts, th ough h e d oesn't find " these (Day t ona) ban kings very safe, There are man y sa fe tr ack s in Europe , also ." suc h as his favo rite, Ass en , in Holland, but he fee ls th at the dan gerous tracks are su ch sim ply b ecau se o f lack of money . Re fle cting on Ontari o, he felt that it was a good circ uit, and th ou gh he cras hed there , he lik ed it. Prior to Ontario , he h ad 'n eve r even seen a p icture of the co urse , so for . th e initial two laps he wen t quite slo w. "On th e third lap I started to go a little b it fast er, and th e pl ac e I crashed th ere ar e many le ft hand co m ers behind each o the r an d you can take the m as on e com er. T he track looked s tr aigh te r than it was and th e last one was more tigh ter and I reali zed it a t firs t in th e middle o f th e com er. I tri ed to lay the b ike over more but th en th e rear wh eel slid off. " But Jamo ca me to Ontario late, was ti red fro m jet lag, and didn 't get a ch anc e to drive around the cir cuit in an automobile, as he usuall y does ~ furep=ti= , J arn o ad mi tted ly has ne ver fall en o ff hard, th ough he once broke his co llarbone on a kilo me ter sand oval (Half-mi le) . He d oes, however, think about the danger of motorcycle racing and the p ossibility of injury. " T h a t is one ':Ie.rr important