Champion Spark Plug (ontario) Motorcycle Classic
CHAMPION SPARK PLUG (ONTARIO) MOTORCYCLE CLASSIC
Britain 2,USA 0. Privateer Cliff Carr Almost Pulled Off An Upset, But A Broken Crankshaft Let Paul Smart By For The $30,400 Win.
THE CHAMPION THAT DID NOT RACE ONTARIO
IVAN J. WAGAR
THE ABSENCE of the brilliant Finnish 250 World Champion, 26-year-old Jarno Saarinen, from the line-up at Ontario was a bitter disappointment for those who have seen him ride. At the Race of the Year, at Mallory Park, England, two weeks before, Saarinen put in three scintillating rides to win every race he entered. And to prove he deserved the wins, he knocked 1.6 sec. off the absolute record established by Mike Hailwood on a Honda Six in 1966. The only rider at Mallory that even saw which way Saarinen went was Cal Rayborn. But even Calvin lost half a second a lap to the “Flying Finn” until magneto trouble sidelined the factory Harley.
After the Champion 250 Mile National at Ontario, I was fortunate to have breakfast with Jarno and his extremely beautiful wife, Soili, before his departure for Japan to test the 1973 racers for Europe. Saarinen, with all the poise and dignity of a true champion, told me that his practice crash on the Wednesday of Ontario race week was one of the most embarrassing and disappointing of his career. He explained that he normally likes to spend at least a day on a new circuit riding a street bike before official racing practice. This has been the rule this year in England, where he has beaten the British best on their home circuits, and also on Grand Prix circuits that are new to him.
Two things prevented Jarno’s pre-ride at Ontario: There are no provisions for practice pre-rides in AMA racing, and Jarno did not arrive in the country until Tuesday evening, the night before official practice. Bothered with sign-in and machine adjustments on Wednesday morning, and upset by the fever that Soili was picking up from a smallpox vaccination, Jarno admits that he was nervous when he went out for practice.
After a slow first lap and a steady second lap, he began to experiment on the third circuit. That was his undoing. In the tricky series of left handers at turn 15 Jarno found himself in too hot, and lost it while still on the pavement. His first thought was “Bloody hell, Al is going to be mad. ”
Al, in this case, is Al Godin, the man who always seems to be able to put together some pieces and build a bike for a rider in need. One of his previous riders was our Assistant Editor Jody Nicholas, before he moved to Suzuki. This year Al has been a contract Yamaha wrench for junior rider Howard Lynggard, but watching the European results and seeing this Finnish guy beat Agostini three times, Al became more convinced that Jarno had to be at Ontario.
Jarno feels that the Ontario circuit is not a place where a rider should go quickly until he has put in several laps. The road surface is light colored, and quite similar in appearance to the long, flat shoulder areas. The circuit is flat, except for the 15-degree banking in turn one, and offers few landmarks to guide the rider.
On the subject of the Isle of Man, Jarno hopes that he will never have to compete there to win or save his crown. He feels that the Island might have been a good place to race when most of the machines were big British Singles with plenty of engine braking on the over run. Now, however, even the production 250s are much faster than the old Norton and Matchless Singles, and in the hands of private owners, there is very little margin between safety and certain death. He admits that possibly the greatest measure of true skill in racing is the constant presence of danger, but does not feel that the penalty for a small, often too human, error should be death.
On the matter of crashing, Saarinen does not believe in it at all. He crashed during his first race of the 1972 season-and now again on the last race of the year. In between those incidents he raced about 10,000 miles without a mishap. Jarno feels that crashing is for stupid or over-emotional people, and readily admits that at Ontario he was both, by being concerned over Soili’s illness, lack of time, and the pressure of his first visit to the U.S. Jarno now wants to repay Al by riding for him at Daytona.
A Daytona ride will depend on Yamaha Japan. Jarno has been told to prepare himself for the 250 and 500 classes in next year’s classics. His trip to Japan is to try out the new 500cc racer, rumored to be a two-stroke Four. But on the same day I had breakfast with Jarno I saw the new 500cc Yamaha eightvalve Twin. Saarinen already knew about the TX 500, and felt that even with Yamaha’s racing expertise, a 500 Twin could not be competitive, and he would be forced to sign for Benelli to ride its new Fours. Speaking about his Benelli rides at Pesaro, where he twice beat Agostini, Jarno feels that four-stroke Multis are easier to ride than two-strokes, but that for fourstroke machines to win now they must have “many” cylinders.
Jarno developed his riding abilities by racing on the ice in Finland. The circuits were similar to road racing courses, with turns in both directions, and the machines featured ordinary tires. That was six years ago. During his second season of racing the rules permitted studs, but not the long spikes associated with speedway-type ice racing. In his third year of competition on his trusty Allstate/Puch, Jarno won the Finnish championship and moved on to road racing. It was in ice racing that Jarno learned that crashing prevents riders from winning races.
An engineer by profession, Jarno feels that racing must be approached as a science. Courage alone cannot win races, but a highly tuned rider, both mentally and physically, can be a world champion.
Speaking on American riders, Jarno feels that Calvin Rayborn must be very good. He goes so fast and crashes so seldom. But it was Kenny Roberts who really caught Saarinen’s eye during the Ontario races. Despite having 18 stitches in his left leg, Jarno could not wait to go down to victory circle to meet “that number 60 rider who can be world champion. ”
For the good of the sport, I hope that Jarno Saarinen will return for an AMA race. And I really hope that we will have enough notice to tell you when and where it will be.
