The measure of the qualities possessed by Jarno Saarinen gives it all that extraordinary he did in an incredibly short time: three and a half years, that is, the international seasons of 1970, 1971, 1972, plus the first part of 1973. However, to understand the magnitude of the character one must place him in his context.
In the early 1970s the Big Four began to arrive: the Japanese manufacturers were preparing a revolution, and the company Jarno raced for, Yamaha, was the wildest and most aggressive of all. In 1972-1973, that is, the period when Jarno Saarinen began to dominate impressively, Yamaha was also making an impression. Suzuki was preparing its answer, which came soon after, Kawasaki was doing things of considerable technical value but without the aggressiveness of the other three, while Honda was regrouping after stopping in the late 1960s.
As for the market, the Big Four began to churn out road models that routed the European competition.
YAMAHA WANTED POKER
In 1973 Yamaha was aggressively pursuing a very expensive plan-established as early as 1971-that involved winning all the world titles it considered strategically relevant: 125, 250, 350, 500. And it wanted to win in the same year! It was not a crazy thought, given the superiority he was exhibiting. The championship had started well right away: in the French GP Yamaha had won three: 125 (Anderson), 250 and 500 (Saarinen). And then, in Austria, the poker had come.
In Salzburg Yamaha had won all the races (sidecar aside): it triumphed in 125 with Kent Andersson, in 250 and 500 with Saarinen, and in 350 with Janos Drapal. He had also come close to a poker in the third round, the German GP: he had taken home the victory in 125 (again with Andersson), 250 (with Teuvo Lansivuori), and 250 with Saarinen; in 500 Saarinen had broken the chain when he was leading. When the championship landed in Monza, for the fourth round, Yamaha was leading in all classes.
And then there was always Hideo Kanaya, who was going strong in both 250 and 500, covering Saarinen’s back. So it is safe to assume that the House of Iwata could actually have won the four the titles in that 1973 season. There was tension in the factory team. Already after the first race, in France, the managers had made it clear that all the drivers would have to make themselves available, and Jarno Saarinen immediately rebelled: he, who felt like a private inside, did not want to be a cog in a system. The Japanese manufacturer had wanted him at all costs, although he had already given indications about his personality by the end of 1970-when he was racing with the support of the Finnish importer Arwindsen. By the age of 25 he had finished his first 250 world cam pionship in fourth place, without having dedicated himself as much as he could have: he skipped four races, because he was running out of budget to race, but he achieved his first goal, which was his engineering degree. Only after graduating, in his hometown of Turku, did he focus on his racing goals.
TEAM SAARINEN OR TEAM YAMAHA?
Signing an official rider contract was not for everyone, in times when the contract was more about getting a good bike and parts. Jarno Saarinen became the “house” rider, so he could race wherever he wanted but only with a Yamaha (he had raced with Yamaha, Kraidler, Benelli, Puch). This produced one major consequence: money suddenly stopped being an issue. He and Soili immediately set aside money to buy a house: they had been married for a year, but they were always living around in their Volkswagen van.
But the new status imposed a new scenario, which generated many problems. The first of these concerned the mechanics: Jarno did not like the idea of others taking care of his bike. Because he not only understood what he needed (in terms of adjustments) but also knew how to get it.
Team Yamaha had to make an accommodation: Jarno accepted outside mechanics but demanded the final say on any changes. Barry Sheene was also like that. He had not studied like Saarinen, however, he would turn to British engineering to modify or even redo his chassis. Even when he was an official rider, in Suzuki and Yamaha. Partly because he wanted a bike that suited him, then because he did not want others to copy his adjustments. The Finnish guy never created problems, so he was angry when it was others who created them for him. And it has to be said that he was doing for Yamaha what he could: he was going fast and winning, he was developing the bikes, he had even agreed to be the image man, a role that was not really natural to him. And the advertising agencies wanted Soili to be there too, on a road-going Yamaha, along with Jarno (as the British agencies did, a few years later, with Barry and Stephanie Sheene). So he was hurt when the team leadership suggested that he keep Soili in the pits, or even at home. He, who was kind and almost shy, replied harshly, “If Soili stays in Finland, I’ll stay there too!” No one touched the subject again. Soili could be found everywhere, including the grid: she carried the toolbox in case a last-minute repair was needed, or a spark plug needed to be changed. She was the official signalman. She liked doing all this, and Jarno especially liked it too. In fact, the two boys enjoyed saying, “We are Team Saarinen!” The problem was that Team Saarinen had become part of Team Yamaha.
TO THE NEXT ONE I’M LEAVING!
Because they wanted to sell a lot of bikes in Yamaha they wanted to show that technology made a difference, so it was important to win with a large number of riders. That was exactly what they also thought in Hamamatsu, but if in Suzuki they adopted a softer strategy (they simply made the official bikes the same as the private ones), in Yamaha they were more direct and authoritarian.
In fact, Barry Sheene threatened to leave Suzuki only after several years, while Jarno Saarinen did so immediately. “As soon as orders started coming in for Jarno, he threatened to go buy a motorcycle from an importer and race as a private individual,” recounted Jari, one of Jarno’s brothers.
At the beginning of the 1973 World Championship, the Yamaha Team management wanted to give team orders, for strategic and commercial reasons: they were therefore thinking of both the international and domestic markets. In France, Saarinen dominated both the 250 and the 500. “After practice, in Le Castellet, they asked him to win the 500 and let Kanaya win the 250,” Soili recounted. “He became very angry and told the team leaders that the Yamaha 500 was not that much better than the MV Agusta.” Saarinen also reacted harshly because he thought he was making the difference, not the bike (and here the similarity is with Valentino Rossi, but also with Casey Stoner). “He felt terrible about it,” Soili continued. “He was disappointed, so he considered breaking the contract: he thought about staying home, or taking the bikes from Arwidson. And he meant it, because he had been happy when he was a private rider.” Then it was off to Austria. “At the Salzburgring Jarno wanted to show right away that he did not agree with the team orders. At one point I was instructed to signal him ‘Slow’ (Jarno wanted Soili to give him the signals from the wall). And Jarno later told me that he was surprised, because the agreements were to show him only the detachments, with no other indications. Anyway, when he saw the sign he started to turn harder and harder, eventually gaining 17″ on Kanaya. That was it, his answer! And after that race he told me to start signaling much further away from the team.” But no one spoke of team orders again.
At Yamaha, certain of the strength of their bikes, they thought they could position riders to win not only with foreigners but also with a Japanese: this would bring great benefits in the domestic market. But they had not considered the personality and plans of Jarno Saarinen. Soili also gave a precise explanation as to why Jarno could afford to hold certain attitudes. Not only was he the strongest rider in the world, but “Jarno at that time was making Yamaha motorcycle sales skyrocket, how could they think of losing him.”
Indeed, in 1973 Jarno Saarinen was certain that he was doing the job for which he had been hired to perfection: he was exalting Yamaha’s technology to the max, bringing new admirers to the dealers. This prompted some in Yamaha to imagine miraculous scenarios: it was believed that Saarinen was capable of winning as many as three races in the same Grand Prix, not to mention three world titles in the same year. This scenario had also involved Saarinen, because after all, his character made him only consider winning.
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