HALL OF FAME

WELL-KNOWN TODAY AS ONE OF THE MAIN MXGP TEAM MANAGERS IN THE PADDOCK, ANTTI PYRHÖNEN HAS A STRONG EXPERIENCE IN THE SPORT AS HE WAS A FIERCE COMPETITOR IN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DURING A DECADE. TWICE ON THE PODIUM AT THE MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS WITH TEAM FINLAND, HE ALSO SECURED A GP WIN AND A PODIUM IN THE MX3 SERIES.

Born on 13th September 1978 in Hyvinkää, Antti had of course some opportunities to discover motocross as he lived close to the most famous Finish track! All started when he was six years old and went with his father to watch some practice sessions before one round of the 250cc World Championship organised at Hyvinkää� Since that moment he knew which sport he wanted to do and of course it was not hockey or football! Then his father took him to see another race that year and at Christmas he got a little old bike�

At that time in Finland you could race the year you turned twelve, so Antti had a lot of time to train and prepare his first ever competition which took place in 1990� In fact, his motivation to enter a race was so high that he did all the paper work by himself, as his father was too busy to take care of this administrative part� His first race at Kouvola was not really what he was expecting, as he was lapped by some older riders! He was really disappointed but he went back training harder and in 1993 he got his first reward with a title in the 80cc class�

Winner of his qualifying zone of the 125cc European championship in 1999, he claimed the title one year later and got a deal to start racing GP’s� He did only one season in the 125cc class, and in 2002 he moved to the 500cc category where he scored points in ten races with a sixth position in Russia as best result� Selected to ride representing Finland at the 2002 Motocross of Nations organized in Spain, he had the honour to be on the podium with Jussi Pekka Vehvilainen and Marko Kovalainen, in third position behind Italy and Belgium� The following year he was again on the podium at the MXoN celebrated in Belgium, and he did one of his best campaigns that year with an 8th position in the 650cc championship� Besides, he also scored points in some 250cc GP’s as there was only one moto per class at this period�

1993: 80 Finish Motocross Champion 1999: 125 Finish Motocross Champion (TM) Winner of the qualifying zone A of the 125 European Championship 2000: 125 European Motocross Champion (Husqvarna) 125 Finish Motocross Champion 36th in the 125 Motocross World Championship 2001: 24th in the 125 Motocross World Championship (Honda) 2002: 16th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Honda) 3rd at the Motocross of Nations with Team Finland 2003: 8th in the 650 Motocross World Championship (Yamaha) 3rd at the Motocross of Nations with Team Finland 2004: 18th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Suzuki) 2005: 15th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (TM) 2006: 14th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (TM) 2007: 38th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Kawasaki) 2008: 11th in the MX3 Motocross World Championship (Suzuki) MX1 Finish Motocross Champion 2009: 3rd in the MX3 Motocross World Championship (Honda). Win one GP 2011: 4th in the MX3 Motocross World Championship (Honda) 2012: 5th in the MX3 Motocross World Championship (Kawasaki)

In 2005 he signed with the TM factory to race the MX1 World Championship, and got a top fifteen result during two campaigns� Injured in 2007 he started the following season in the MX1 class as a privateer, but at mid-season he moved to the MX3 series and scored his first ever GP podium during the Finnish round at Heinola�

His best ever season was for sure 2009, when he was an MX3 title contender during most of the season against Pierre Alexandre Renet and Alex Salvini� Third in Chili, Netherlands and Slovenia, he finally won his home Grand Prix at Vantaa but that was not enough to become world champion� Third in the standings and MX1 Finish champion, he unfortunately broke his leg at the MXoN in Italy and missed the entire 2010 season� Back in 2011 with a fourth position in the MX3 series, he ended his racing career at the end of 2012 after a knee and shoulder injury�

With a huge experience after twelve seasons racing the World Championship as a factory rider but mainly as a privateer, Antti had no time to rest when he retired as Kimi Räikkönen contacted him to become team manager of the Ice One Racing Team� Working with KTM, Husqvarna and now Kawasaki factory since last season, Antti will enter his eleventh season as a team manager when the gate will drop in Argentina�

Text and Photos: Pascal Haudiquert

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1 BRISK spark plugs will continue to support Husqvarna Factory Racing in

MXGP for the 2023 season. 2 UFO Plast and MRT Racing Team

Beta will collaborate in the 2023 FIM

Motocross Championship season with the riders Ben Watson and Alessandro

Lupino 3 Blackbird Racing renew partnership with

Honda Racing Corporation for the 10th

Year in a row 4 Press conference held in Istanbul at the end of 2022 to introduce the 2023

Snowcross World Championship in

Kayseri, Turkiye. 5 Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing have penned a partnership with DunlopMoto for the upcoming 2023 MXGP season. 6 It was officially announced that Standing

Racing will switch to Honda for the upcoming season 7 Alvin Ostlund excited to join JWR Honda

Racing for the FIM Motocross World

Championship 2023 8 Yago Martinez joins the Ufo Plast group with KTM Racing Team for the MX2

World Championship in 2023 9 MXGP visits the new venue of the 2023

SNX Championship 10 Jan Pancar will wear Ufo Plast for the 2023 Season

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WHEN YAMAHA INTRODUCED ITS FULL-FACTORY, ONE OF A KIND YZ400F TO THE FIM MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN 1997, IT WAS MET WITH MIXED REVIEWS. WHY? WELL, SIMPLY BECAUSE IT WAS NEW AND IT CAUSED A REAL STIR AMONGST THE 2-STROKE BRIGADE, AND TO SAY IT WAS A GAMECHANGER IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT. IT WAS LIGHT, IT WAS FAST AND IT WAS EXTREMELY LOUD AS WELL. Then came the YZ250F in 2001, but it wasn’t until 2004 that we saw the emergence of the rest of the ‘baby boomers’ from KTM, Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki, as a result of the FIM’s rebranding of the 125cc class, which from 2004 became known as MX2� However, we can only choose one feature bike to write about, and so in this issue of MXGP Magazine, we will shift our attention to the all-new (at the time) Kawasaki KX250F�

As the the decade of the nineties drew to a close, the dawn of a new millennium was not the only major change lying in wait on the horizon; far from it� Motocross was seeing its first major shift in motorcycle production since the birth of the 2-stroke era in

1970 when Joel Robert guided his Japanese 250cc Suzuki to the world championship, something which changed the future of the sport of motocross� So, it seems almost ironic that by the turn of the century we were about to come ‘full-circle’ as a new generation of lightweight, 4-stroke motocross bikes were about to burst back on to the scene, pushing the 2-stroke into the shadows where its future was now unknown�

In what was still known as the 125cc class, Yamaha had already introduced its YZ250F four-stroke to the table in 2001, whilst KTM had ‘dabbled’ with its own 250F around the same time, but with teething problems a plenty, the Austrian project was shelved until 2004, and when the bike returned to the track in the hands of Ben Townley, the result was devastating; the New Zealander won 21 out of the 32 races to become the first ever MX2 World Champion, and it was clear that that the 4-stroke revolution was here to stay�

Kawasaki’s 250F journey from design to production began in 2002, but rather than go it alone, the green corner of Japan formed ‘The Alliance’ with Suzuki and with both companies coming together, it would be interesting to see how the bikes would differ, if at all� The engine was designed by Suzuki with Kawasaki responsible for the chassis, and actually, when all was said and done, the only difference between the two was the colour and the design of the plastics� By the end of 2003, both bikes broke cover and were made available for ‘Media Tests’ ahead of what would be an important 2004 debut season� the comparisons were drawn against its existing 2003 KX125� The tried and trusted twin-spar steel perimeter frame remained, although it now featured new ‘D-section’ perimeter frame tubes which was designed to ‘allow the bodywork to hug the frame more closely, thus offering a slimmer design and better riding position� ’

The new chassis design also meant that that area around the foot pegs was reduced by around 40%, which helped maintain that overall slim feel, so from that side, Kawasaki was seen to be doing everything right with its first attempt at the 250F�

When the bike broke cover, this new lightweight, compact and powerful KX250F was, according to Kawasaki, made with the most innovative technology in 4-stroke motocross (at that time)� Whilst Yamaha’s 250F came with five valves, Kawasaki opted for four, and were made from titanium� The cylinder head was DOHC� With an impressive spread of power, the myth surrounding the new 4-strokes was that the

engine braking was going to be quite abrupt, but Kawasaki had this covered with its 37mm Keihin FCR carburettor and trick digital CDI unit, which came with 3D mapping, which soothed that harsh feeling quite considerably, helping it feel more akin to how a 2-stroke felt as the rider closed the throttle; not completely, but enough for it not to be a major concern at least�

The 48mm KYB forks were new and ran check valves on the bladders to help improve damping, and offered an overall smoother action through the stroke� The rear shock was also new and so too was the newlink Uni-Trak system which was designed to transmit suspension input via the swingarm, which therefore allowed the frame to be lighter� With a much simpler rear shock motion, the suspension action was therefore smoother, which according to the technicians at the time, helped to increase traction at the rear wheel by 35%� Impressive stuff!

There was also a lot of talk about how the new bike was lightweight, with the use of titanium valves, and a lot of aluminium where possible� Even the new designed front brake callipers were lighter and came equipped with a Kevlar-lined front brake cable and 250mm front disc, but despite all of this, the KX250F still weighed in some 5�5kg heavier than the KX125 it was being compared to, but then again, you can’t have everything, can you?

Perhaps the most talked about topic at the time was how difficult these new generation 4-strokes were to start after a fall, or when they were just hot in general, but Kawasaki also had this covered� Easy to start when cold was a treat, but with the hot-start lever on the left side of the handlebar, the KX250F fired up quite easily once hot and therefore a real bonus too�

As for the ride itself, with first and second gears being very close together, you really needed to ride this bike in the taller gears and from that aspect, third and fourth worked really well� The power delivery was smooth and easy to ride compared to a 2-stroke 125cc, which could be quite snappy if you had the power set up for bottom to mid-range performance, or lazy (mid-top) to the point you needed to be too dependent on the clutch� The KX250Fs power delivery meant that a rider who carried good corner speed on a 125cc, could now do the same in a more effective manner, whilst at the same time, a rider stepping up to a bigger bike for the first time - from 85cc - could now ride with more confidence and more consistency due to the bikes torquey, yet smooth characteristics�

In its first year of racing in 2004, the Kawasaki KX250F saw Ivan Tedesco claim the 125cc AMA West Coast Supercross title, whilst on this side of the pond, Scotland’s Stephen Sword raced to victory at the Portuguese (Agueda) and German (Teutschenthal) GP’s on his way to 4th overall in the FIM MX2 World Championship� Two years later though, the Kawasaki KX250F would win the title in the hands of Christophe Pourcel�

❝Hi MXGP, I would like to get some official hoodies for my family, where is the best place to buy them? Emma ❞ Hi Emma, you just have to go on the official MXGP Store website by clicking on this link https:// www.mxgp-store.com and you will find everything there! Thanks MXGP

❝Hello MXGP, I would like to go to the MXoN in Ernée, where can we buy the tickets? Julien ❞ Hi Julien, you can buy the tickets directly at https://ernee.motocrosstickets.com/en/6551-mxfr/ Regards MXGP ❝ Hi there, where will I find out when the ticket for Matterley Basin 2023 go online? Kim ❞ Dear Kim, MXGP will announce on www.mxgp.com as soon as they will be out and we will also share it on our social platforms on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Best Regards MXGP

❝Ciao MXGP, is there any discoWhere can I buy a season pass to watch MXGP races live in 2023? Matt

Hello Matt : You can buy a MXGP-TV season pass following this link www. mxgp-tv.com This is also a great time to get this pass as our Early Bird Promo on the Season pass is still available. Thanks MXGP ❝ I wanted to check the results of the MXoN 2021, I’m not sure where can I find them? Sergio ❞ Hi Sergio, you can find all the results and stats of any previous races following this link https://results.mxgp.com/ mxgp/standings.aspx Thanks MXGP