The rider’s widow talks about and narrates some episodes of her life with the late Finnish champion who, together with Renzo Pasolini, lost his life on May 20, 1973 on the Monza bend in one of the most tragic pages in the history of the World Championship
Soili Saarinen continues the story of her life with Jarno by revealing some unpublished anecdotes and opinions, including that of Giacomo Agostini, of her late husband, who died on May 20, 1973 after a terrible accident in Monza. A fiction entitled Saarinen’s life will be published Laugh outwhose release is scheduled for the end of 2023 in Finland, while the distribution in the European networks should take place in 2024.
JARNO’S GREAT OPPONENTS
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“His greatest rivals – Soili points out – were Phil Read, Renzo Pasolini, Rod Gould, Dieter Braun and of course Augustine, but it was Read that he found most difficult. In 1972 Jarno received an Arwidson-sponsored 250cc air-cooled bike from Yamaha Amsterdam, while Barry Sheene was given a similar, water-cooled bike. Subsequently Barry crashed with that bike and Yamaha gave it to Jarno mid-season at Opatija, where the Yugoslavian Grand Prix was being held. Barry of that Yamaha said: “This is a motorcycle of mer…” and got no results. But after Abbazia, Jarno set it up and with that same motorcycle he won the 250 World Championship“.
JARNO ON AGOSTINI
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“Jarno said that Agostini was a great driver – Soili recounts – but that he had also been very lucky because he always had the best bike. Phil Read, in his opinion, was a much tougher and more combative opponent. With Angel Nieto he competed at Monza and Jarama in 1971 in the 125 class, when the Dutch team Kreidler Van Veen wanted him and Barry Sheene to help Jan De Vries and his team become world champions. Derbi had asked Gilberto Parlotti to support Nieto in the race. Barry was unable to stop him, instead Jarno pushed Angel Nieto out at the last corner and so Jan De Vries became champion in the last Grand Prix almost without realizing it.”
ENCOUNTERS IN RE-ENACTMENTS
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“I met many nice ex-racers in historical re-enactments, – Soili reveals again – I was invited to Paul Ricard a few years ago by the organizer. It was nice to meet Agostini, Read and Kent Andersson and others. Everyone enjoys these re-enactments because there is no longer the competitive spirit and tension of competitions. I also went to Agostini’s house in Bergamo. Giacomo was very kind and friendly with me. I stayed away from racing for over 30 years as I worked for Finnair, the Finnish airline, and had my own family and two daughters to manage. After Monza I wanted to forget the world of motorcycling, but a lot of time has passed by now, I’ve gotten over that period”.
LOVE FOR ITALY
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“We have toured many countries, but the country that both Jarno and I loved the most was Italy. We liked the food and the atmosphere and had many friends in Imola, such as Dr. Claudio Costa and his family members. The best memories in the years of competitions? The first GP victory in Brno 1971, which we celebrated with our Swedish friends, the victory at Monza in 1971 and the one at the Nürburgring in 1972 when Jarno managed to beat Ago. Only Mike Hailwood had done it five years earlier. But usually we didn’t have much time to party and have fun. The journeys were long and the preparation of the bikes required a lot of time. But sometimes it was also nice to relax a bit with friends in the evening in the paddock. We drank a beer or a cup of tea with them, or we had lunch together with Tepi Lansivuori who was Jarno’s best friend.”
THE 250 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN ’72 AND THE DAMNED 1973
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“An immense joy, a great result for both e Jarno in Imatra wanted me to get on the podium with him to show that we were a team of two and to thank me for my effort. Then came 1973 where everything started well, he won the 200 Miles of Daytona with the Yamaha 350 and repeated it in the 200 Miles at Imola. So in the first race of the world championship at Paul Ricard he beat both Agostini and Read and won all the races before Monza, except the 500 at Hockenheim when his chain broke, due to a Japanese mechanic who had set it wrong. Jarno had noticed it, but he didn’t say anything to anyone so as not to create problems for the mechanic who came to me at the end of the race to apologize. In any case, everything had changed, before it had been fun to travel freely, but then Yamaha started giving team orders that Jarno absolutely didn’t accept. He had always said that he wanted to stop at the top of his career, that he would have retired that year if he too had won only one World Cup, although he could easily win two. If it hadn’t been for the Monza incident, he certainly would have made it. We wanted to have children and he told me that in the future he would like to work as an engineer. Yamaha offered me a job after Jarno’s death, in any country and with any job I wanted to do and I’m very grateful, but I liked my job and I preferred to stay in Turku, especially after traveling all over the world for many years on Finnair’s long-haul flights. After the tragedy I realized that I had to find something else to recover. I was sad, all my dreams of a future life had collapsed and I was living with my parents. But luckily I had studied in commercial college and started working in Turku as a receptionist in a big first class hotel, then my sister told me that Finnair was hiring flight attendants and it was really my lifesaver. I could travel again and decided to keep my past totally a secret. Then after four years I remarried because I really wanted to have children. I was happy when I had my two daughters and worked for Finnair for 35 years. I really enjoyed my job, even though it was challenging. I am now deservedly retired.”
JARNO, AN ENDLESS LEGEND
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“I never would have thought – adds Soili – that the legend of Jarno would be so strong and his legacy was still alive so many years later. I was happy and proud when Yamaha invited me to Japan in spring 2019. It was a great honour. And there the general manager, Mr. Hidaka, showed me his old, worn-out advertising brochure with Jarno’s picture from his college days. He was a he big fan of him when he was young. Anyway, I still quite often visit Jarno’s grave and I still think about him a lot, but I’ve overcome the trauma, I’m happy and satisfied with my life which hasn’t been boring at all, although unfortunately I’ve suffered a lot.”
THE MEETING WITH RENZO’S WIFE
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“In 2013 – concludes Soili – I met Anna Pasolini and her son Renzo junior for the first time. We were both very moved. As we passed from the starting line to the big bend the sun was shining, but soon dark clouds rose and at the same time as we were putting our flowers on the crash site a terrible thunder broke out and Anna Pasolini said to me: ‘Now Renzo and Jarno are up there knowing that we are here’”. A truly moving episode.
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