ZitatICE1RACING junior team signs five Finnish riders
ICE1RACING motocross team run by Kari Tiainen and owned by Kimi Räikkönen has signed five Finnish junior motocross riders into their team. In the season 2012 young riders Niko Koskela, Teemu Lehtinen, Jami Numminen, Joni Numminen and Roni Kytönen will race in the ICE1RACING colors and represent Kawasaki in their own classes.The team strives to create possibilities for new talents and bring the level of Finnish motocross up along with possibilities.The team has promoted the Finnish talents in the season 2011 and made it possible for new names to enter GP series.
ICE1RACING motocross team verified their support for Finns by announcing their junior team for the season 2012. The junior riders for the team are Niko Koskela (20), Teemu Lehtinen (17), Jami Numminen (16), Joni Numminen (13) and Roni Kytönen (12). The goal of the ICE1RACING motocross team of Kimi Räikkönen is to give opportunities for the Finnish riders.
”We want to give an opportunity to young riders to try out their talents. Our junior riders train partly with our main riders and have in this way an opportunity for a test environment that other wise might be out their reach,” explains team manager Kari Tiainen.
The former enduro world champion Vesa Kytönen continues his good work with the junior team and leads the team of five junior riders who will race on the national level in their own classes and substitute the main riders if needed.
”On the race season we support the junior riders both in the national and international level. Niko rides in the Finnish Championship in the MX1-class, but also through us is able to participate to some MX3 GP’s. Also Teemu’s goal is to tour not only Finnish Championship in MX2-class but also the whole EMX2 tour. Our junior team older riders serve also as substitute riders and when needed get to try out their talents in the World Championship, ” continues Tiainen.
The goals of our younger riders are still national. Jami Nurminen races in Finnish Championship in the MXJ class which serves as a stepping stone to MX2 class and eventually to EMX2. The youngest riders of the team Joni Numminen and Roni Kytönen race in the C/A class for 12 -16 year old juniors in order to gain the Finnish Championship tittle in the Finnish Cup.
ICE1RACING junior rider numbers for season 2012:
Niko Koskela #300 Teemu Lehtinen #123 Jami Numminen #400 Joni Numminen #100 Roni Kytönen #91
ZitatFinnish motocross team ICE1RACING opens the season from Helsinki
ICE1RACING, the motocross team representing Finland in the World Championships, starts its’ season from the Helsinki supercross the following weekend. The Motorcycle Show 2012 hosts the invitational competition and at the start gate are GP-rider Dean Ferris(AUS) along with the junior team riders Niko Koskela and Teemu Lehtinen. The recovery of the team’s other GP-rider Santtu Tiainen is in good speed. ICE1RACING starts the GP season April 9th from Valkenswaard, Netherlands.
The motorcross team ICE1RACING starts its’ second GP-season with two MX1 riders. The riders selected to represent the team are Australian Dean Ferris (21) and Finnish Santtu Tiainen (20), hereby the team continues supporting young talents.”My goal was to move to the World Championships this season and ICE1RACING made it possible for me. I really want to show what I am capable of and the team shares the desire”, told satisfied Dean Ferris.
ICE1RACING team has also a junior team of five young riders; Niko Koskela (20), Teemu Lehtinen (18), Jami Numminen (16), Joni Numminen (13) and Roni Kytönen (12).
ICE1RACING team continues with Kawasaki
"We are very satisfied with our choise of the bike from last season and our co-operation together with Kawasaki will continue in the future even stronger than before. Along with Dean Ferris we combined the intrests of Kawasaki and we and it is interesting to see what our second season in the GP brings by”, commented team manager Kari Tiainen. ”Our goal is to break into the top 10 in MX1, the class our both riders ride. The goal is not impossible, wherefore the spirit in the team is anticipatory in a good way”, continues Tiainen.
Season start at the Helsinki supercross
The motocross team ICE1RACING owned by Kimi Räikkönen opens the season from the Helsinki supercross. The invitational event, which is held in Helsinki for the first time, starts on Friday at 15.30 with training and climaxes with the final on Saturday evening.
”The event is unique in Finland, since the Motorcycle Show collects a great crowd to the fair center”, cheers Jarkko Nieminen from Pseparts. ”For us as the main promotor this is naturally a great opportunity to bring the sport close to the big audience and what could be a better way to do it than together with our partner ICE1RACING team.”
Representing ICE1RACING in the race are GP-rider Dean Ferris, and junior team riders Niko Koskela and Teemu Lehtinen. Team’s other GP-rider, Santtu Tiainen, is recovering from an injury from late summer and doesn’t start in the race. ”The knee is in good condition. I was able to start riding already before Christmas in Spain and ever since it’s been a good progress. We will move to train in Belgium right after the fair and we’ll be ready when the season starts”, comments the well spirited Santtu Tiainen.
ICE1RACING team opens the GP season April 9th from Valkenswaard, Netherlands.
ZitatHelsinki supercross challenged ICE1RACING
In the Helsinki fair center hosted an indoor supercross on Friday and Saturday. GP-rider Dean Ferris, together with the junior team riders Niko Koskela and Teemu Lehtinen were representing ICE1RACING team in the invitational race. On Friday Ferris won his heats before the final, but was forced to cut short in the final. Lehtinen and Koskela didn’t qualify to the final. Saturday brought misfortune, Koskela was the only one qualified to the final, yet he wasn’t able to finish.
Friday Supercross seemed to be Dean Ferris’s day. The ICE1RACING newcomer won both starts of his qualifying heats and finished them with the pole position, but the final didn’t go as planned. ” I wasn’t able to quite get the double jump on the finish line, so my front tire duck into the mud and I hit myself hard to the bike. It wasn’t the best heat anyways, but the pain took over me and I just couldn’t finish”, commented Ferris.
Lehtinen didn’t qualify unfortunately from the last chance to the final and also Koskela made his way to the top rough by a fall in the first qualification, his speed didn’t simply cut it in the repechage. Belgian Jurgen Wybo won the race on Friday.
ICE1RACING team owner Kimi Räikkönen was following the race on Friday. ”The boys ride well. The first race of the season is of course always one of the kind and it’s indoor supercross on a fairly soft track, but the speed seems to be coming along, cheered Räikkönen.
Saturday wasn’t full of hope. First Lehtinen had a mild concussion and couldn’t finish. Then Ferris, altough was leading in the first corner, once hitting the first jumps had lost his lead and in the next curv hit the back tire of the rider in front of him, bike bounced badly and that was the end of the heat.
The nice surprise of the day was the great fight from Koskela in the last chance. Koskela was the only Finn in the finals. ”It was great to succeed and it gave such good boost to the final”, discribed Koskela. Yet in the final Koskela unfortunately crashed in the first round, but survived the bad looking collition with a dead leg.
The winner on Saturday was Fabian Izoird.
Helsinki supercross event hosted by the Motorcycle Show was put together for the first time.
I would have liked to be there! I didn't find ICE1RACING's name on the list, when I last looked at it... Plus I've been with flu for a while now... " title="brr" />
Interview with Ludde Söderberg (ex-rider of ICEONE RACING): how is going his season in MX3, investing in a motocross career, the future and his relationship with Kimi Räikkönen.
Interview Thursday 14th June 2012 By Harry van Hemmen
The FIM World MX1 and MX2 championships are loaded with talented riders, riders the whole World knows, like Cairoli, Desalle, Pourcel, Paulin, Searle and Herlings, but of course there are many riders who don't get known. Here is a cool interview with MX3 newcomer Ludde Soderberg's.
“We need a woman on the team, team manager how deep are our pockets?", it started as a joke while 22 year old Ludvig (Ludde) Söderberg was cooking his meal in the MX3 paddock. Pasta on the menu … as usual.
Being a motocross rider travelling Europe for the MX3 World Championship takes a lot more then sling your leg over your bikes’ seat and ride two motos.
After one year in MX2 with Kimi Raikkonen’s IceOne Racing Team Ludde is now riding under the wings of Antti Pyrhönen’s AP24RACING Team. IceOne opened the door to the 2011 World Championship motocross scene for the young Finn.
“It feels like I have been eating pasta the whole year,” says Ludde with a smile, “I should consider joining the army where they cook and wash for you. I have been postponing doing my military services for 4 years but I may go there this winter. The army makes life so much easier, you just have to follow orders.”
“If I go this winter I hope they let me go after 6 months, otherwise it will be 9 months which I can’t be away from my sport. Being in sports makes a difference with a special treatment. At the moment I am too busy to think about the army, I am now occupied by my racing and making pasta.”
CHANGE OF CLASS
How is the season going now that six of the ten races are behind us.
“Overall pretty much okay but really disappointing was the opener in Valkenswaard because I had the speed there to do well. And it was the only MX3 race in the sand so the result after a great qualification was a bummer. I picked up 7 WC points and it should have been a lot more; with a third place in qualification I showed my potential. But I crashed in the first moto.”
“I knew that France would be quite a handful and it was probably even more difficult then anticipated. In the pre-season we had been training hard on sand tracks and the first races we did in Holland were on sand. I believe I missed some hard pack training before the season got into gear.”
“The third MX3 round in Bulgaria went pretty well and with some changes to my bike I began to get into the groove with the hard tracks in Italy and Croatia and that made me rise in the points to tenth place. In Slovenia I enjoyed my riding though I had to make up a lot of ground. I need good results to improve my ranking but also for my head to get my motivation high.”
Is tenth place where you feel you belong?
“With poor results in Holland and France I’m at the right spot. The top ten guys are really competitive plus we had some races with wildcard riders from the MX1 who took away many points. It is not easy to get into the top ten.”
“The switch to MX3 has been good. It is a World Championship without too much pressure and I feel it’s a good place for me to get better with the 450 bike. I can collect a lot of experience in races where I can be close to the top five on a good day. Instead of racing for a couple of points in MX2 and not really develop as a rider.”
Some of Ludde’s MX3 events went really well, others were a bit of a struggle for the man from Vantaa, especially at the opening stages of the race.
“Yeah that is a weak point, the other guys ride a bit more aggressive in the opening laps, they go faster into the corners and brake later. Before I have found my rhythm the guys in front are gone. It is something I need working on in my training. Do sprints and stuff like that.”
INVESTING IN A MOTOCROSS CAREER
You feel your investment going MX3 is worth the effort?
“Of course it takes a big lump of money to race MX3 but yes I feel it’s worth the effort. Alternative is to buy a seat on a MX2 or MX1 team, hand them over your entire budget and then never know are they happy with your riding and results. Now I am my own boss and make my own decisions and if I am not happy I can only blame myself and no one else.”
“It is really interesting to do it your own way, how to approach sponsors, work with them and communicate with them to keep them updated and involved. It’s what you can do for them before they can do something for you.”
“This is stuff they teach you at school but now I can combine that with the sport I dedicated so much of my life to. From Antti Pyrhönen I have learned a lot since I joined his AP24RACING Team.”
Racing MX3 World Championship is not as expensive as MX1 or MX2, still it will cost a lot of money with bikes, parts and transportation. Living in a small van with his mechanic Jani can be hard but of course it’s Ludde’s dream to reach the top in his sport.
“It would be a lonely trip cruising around Europe far from home if I did not have a bunch of other Finns around me like Antti and his mechanic Jussi. We travel and ride together so that sure makes a difference. I rode EMX2 in 2010 and I did it alone with my mechanic and somehow now two years older it is not any more so much fun to sleep in a van as it used to be. It’s in fact a pretty hard life.”
EXCELLENT ENGLISH
Everybody in Finland speaks English and yet it is amazing how perfect Ludde chooses his words; what was your education, what is the secret behind this?
“I went to high school and finished it in 2010. When I was ten years old my mom had a job in Plano, Texas for one year so I went to school there for about half a year. I visited elementary school and that’s how I picked up my English.”
Racing and follow a passion is a hard life as mentioned. Have you been thinking how far will you go or is there a plan for the future?
“Funny you should ask because I think about that nearly every day. I did high school so I can go to a next level; even go to university is a possibility and study international marketing or so. Last week I was thinking sport massage would be a cool job, journalist is something appealing, you see it changes from day to day.”
“I cannot continue racing motocross for too long, at least not at this level. Well I bet Antti didn’t have the idea to stay that long in the game and he is still around and doing well. A bit more sponsors next year would be welcome. Plan is to finish in the top ten this year and go for a medal in 2013. That is how I see my investment in my racing career at the moment.”
RIDING WITH F1 STAR RAIKKONEN
“Kimi is good fun, he became a friend of mine. I did not have to pay much to be on his team; I had some private sponsors plus my dad to make all this possible, same as this year. I do a lot myself plus I have professionals to find more sponsors. Although the economical situation in Finland is not as bad as in other parts of Europe it’s not easy to find cash.”
“To give an example I approached 40 companies last year and a few said yes so that tells something. Antti helped me a lot this year and introduced me to a bunch of his own sponsors who came onboard. Sponsoring is a two year plan at least, first find some who are interested and then build a relationship and pay them back with results.”
How did you get in contact with Iceman and Formula One rider Kimi Raikkonen who is known he is incredibly hard to get hold off?
“I had this friend who was doing videos and he started filming Kimi in his rally project. By that way I got to know Kimi and we went out riding a couple of times as he loves motocross and he is really fast as well, not just cruising.”
How is Kimi as a person, I mean can you just phone him up?
“Oh yeah, well he is not the easiest guy to catch but when I call him he will answer. I saw him a few weeks ago in Finland when he had a break. It was my birthday and we ended up at the same place. Kimi is a special guy, anything he does he is pretty good at it. He has a talent for motorsports. Great to see he is doing so well now that he is back in F1.”
Logical step would be that he puts a bit more money into your career?
“Yeah right that sounds fine by me.”
But Ludde left the team that opened the door for him to the motocross World Championship and went to the MX3. Although that is not the full story because while getting into shape on his Honda 450 in the winter he was approached by Adri van Beers’ Team to ride their MX2 factory TM bike this year.
“That ended in a big disappointment for me. Last winter Antti told me to contact a couple of teams and watch everything that was going on in the off season. I phoned Adri, tested the bike and we worked out a deal to race MX2 that would cost me almost nothing. Quiet a bit less money then doing what I am doing now but then the deal fell through. I went MX3 and I feel good about it.”
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Sat Nov 26, 2011 1:04 pm
h" title="hih" /> Would like to be in Spain as well
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