Jarno Saarinen, Silverstone, 1972 Pictures
Add Your Photos!
Thanks to Roger Kirby for sending this picture of Jarno Saarinen at Silverstone at the 1972 John Player International meeting. Jarno scored a 250/350 double on his Yamaha.
This is a picture of the greatest motorcycle racer of all time. He won everything he entered. His own, his very own 350cc Yamaha was maintained by him in the back of a caravanette in which he lived. He won the Imola 200 on it. The opposition rode 750s. They didn’t stand a chance. At the first John Player race at Silverstone the 250 race was a very close thing. Next year Jarno won by miles from the same people. Had Jarno lived he would have brought Agostinis run of championships to a halt. You may never have heard of Agostini had he not been killed by a Harley Davidson leaking oil all over the place. The only person who came close to Jarno was perhaps Cal Rayborn. Funnily enough Cal rode a Harley Davidson.
Nimrod 48 on December 23, 2014 @ 8:34 pm
It was Renzo Pasolini that rode the two stroke Aermacchi/H D & was also killed in the awful first lap crash along with Saarinen, the oil leak came from Walter Villa’s Benelli.
There have been rumours that the Aermacchi/H D seized but Yamaha engineers were allowed to be present at the strip down after the crash & the bores & pistons were found to be perfect the Aermacchi/H D incidentally was using Yamaha pistons.
Sadly Cal Rayborn never got to test his mettle against the best in the world as he was killed while testing a Suzuki in New Zealand in 1973.
It was Renzo Pasolini that rode the two stroke Aermacchi/H D & was also killed in the awful first lap crash along with Saarinen, the oil leak came from Walter Villa’s Benelli.
There have been rumours that the Aermacchi/H D seized but Yamaha engineers were allowed to be present at the strip down after the crash & the bores & pistons were found to be perfect the Aermacchi/H D incidentally was using Yamaha pistons.
Sadly Cal Rayborn never got to test his mettle against the best in the world as he was killed while testing a Suzuki in New Zealand in 1973.
I was at Silverstone in 1972 to see Saarinen take them all to the cleaners. I loved that meeting, watching Jarno’s 250 and 350 hammering all the other 250s, 350s and 1000s in the Open Class – even if the MVs sounded fantastic! He was a fantastic racer and would probably have been world champion in 250cc, 500cc and maybe even 350cc classes in 1973 and he had planned to retire after those championships. In my mind, the true GOAT of motorcycle racing.