Nappe1
04-17-2005, 12:28 PM
Congrats to Mika Kallio taking very close victory in 125 ccm class at Estoril today. Also big congratulations to Héctor Faubel for second place and making the race such spectacular event. the last 3 laps were really exciting and the difference between two first guys was only 0.008 seconds.
Previous victory was in 1975, when Heikki Korhonen won 350 ccm class in Yogoslavian GP. After death of Jarno "paroni" Saarinen in Monza 1973, motorbike racing wasn't anymore as popular in finland as it used to be. When Imatra losed it's WC GP event in late 70's, the series were dropped from major news. This continued until Kallio started to get podium finishes. Now finland is starting to get interested about MotoGP again and lot's of memories about Saarinen and Imatra are discussed when ever ppl meet.
EDIT: I am born about 60 km from Imatra and though I missed the GP, I have visitted the street circuit where legends like Saarinen, Länsivuori, Agostini and Pasolini have raced. the kerbs are still there and you can easily imagine 350 ccm bikes flying around 250km/h on main straight...
Previous victory was in 1975, when Heikki Korhonen won 350 ccm class in Yogoslavian GP. After death of Jarno "paroni" Saarinen in Monza 1973, motorbike racing wasn't anymore as popular in finland as it used to be. When Imatra losed it's WC GP event in late 70's, the series were dropped from major news. This continued until Kallio started to get podium finishes. Now finland is starting to get interested about MotoGP again and lot's of memories about Saarinen and Imatra are discussed when ever ppl meet.
EDIT: I am born about 60 km from Imatra and though I missed the GP, I have visitted the street circuit where legends like Saarinen, Länsivuori, Agostini and Pasolini have raced. the kerbs are still there and you can easily imagine 350 ccm bikes flying around 250km/h on main straight...