The spout-shaped, white kayak leaves the pier and immediately turns upside down.
Olympic champion in canoeing Mikko Kolehmainen smiling on the platform when Lasse Kurvinen rises to the surface and says: “Each sport seems to have separate pro jobs.”
Kurvinen is a two-time world champion in motorcycle flat track riding, who uses kayaking as a side exercise. On the other hand, Kolehmainen, who paddled Olympic gold in Barcelona in -92, offers Kurvise his own tips for the sport whenever the opportunity arises. Their paths crossed in Mikkeli’s Kattilanlahti after Kurvinen, from Päntyharju, started using kayaking as a form of exercise.
In his flat track flat track, Kurvinen’s eyes are on the next season and a completely new challenge, as he is going to test his speed in the mother country of the sport, the United States, whose championship series is considered the toughest in the world.
– The hands move, but remember to use the legs! Kolehmainen shouts to Kurvise, who is paddling a few dozen meters away.
Kurvinen credits kayaking as one of the major reasons why he became world champion in flat track while still in his forties.
– I believe that it helped in developing and maintaining the mobility of the upper body in addition to the muscle condition. In my paddling training, I have also often tried to simulate flat track competitions in terms of performance duration and heart rate. It has included practices, qualifiers and the final, so I’ve had like a motorcycle race on the lake. At the same time, it has also served as a mental exercise, Kurvinen explains.
Apparently, he has not tried to simulate driving to the finish line with a kayak.
The Olympic champion who follows Kurvinen’s paddling from the pier says that he has always appreciated motor athletes as well.
But what kind of flat track expert is Mikko Kolehmainen?
– I’m not terribly tough, but I’ve learned quite a lot by being here. Every sport has its own conkelos, Kolehmainen characterizes.
It becomes concrete at the end of the training, when he suggests with a small smile on his face that Kurvinen should try a racing kayak instead of the recreational kayak he normally uses. The experiment in question ends as described at the beginning with a cold bath and a playful acknowledgment.
On the back of a motorcycle, Kurvinen doesn’t have to be afraid of a cold bath, but next season’s challenge is still big even in his own sports culture.
Kurvinen received a super license as the second non-American
In Europe, flat track is raced on oval tracks with racing equipment adapted from motocross bikes. In the United States, the Super twin main class of the sport, on the other hand, is run with two-cylinder racers modified from street motorcycles. Compared to the MM series wheels, they are almost twice as powerful, about 60 horsepower, more powerful, but at the same time about 30 kg heavier.
The oval tracks behind the Atlantic are also longer and faster than in Europe. In the World Series, the top speed of Kurvinen’s bike was about 180 km/h on the straights, in the USA the top speed on the mile track is around 230 km/h.
Last July, Kurvinen made a try-out-type training and competition trip to the United States. In practice, he had to prove that he could ride a Super twin bike fast and safely enough to get the super license required in the local championship series.
– I knew that based on those few test days, the license would either be granted or not. However, my first test day was canceled due to rain. In practice, it meant that there was no more time to get used to the bike and screens were needed immediately.
However, Kurvinen succeeded and got that license only as the second non-American driver in history. Normally, achieving a super license requires sufficient and successful competition in the lower classes.
Before Kurvis, only an Australian track motorcycle rider had received a super license as quickly Troy Baylisswho had reached three Superbike class world championships on asphalt and also a MotoGP victory.
Kake Randelin interrupts the interview
According to Kurvinen, the Finnish flat track world champion caused consternation in the mother country of the sport, especially when he said that he was practically the only fan of the sport in his home country. A pioneering spirit is also required from him across the Atlantic. The PR side is reportedly handled in “rally English”, with a Southern Savo accent.
– If I ask my daughter about my English skills, she starts laughing. The Americans, on the other hand, gave positive feedback about my language skills and suggested that I make an introduction video about myself in English. When I sent a copy of their proposal via whatsapp to my daughter, the response was a flurry of laughing emoticons.
Kurvinen’s debut in the US flat track series is ahead in March at Daytona. Before that, he will make a training trip across the Atlantic at the beginning of the year. Kurvinen says he will face his new challenge as a country boy from Päntyharju, but without being humbled.
– In Europe, I have won what can be won. The United States is the mother country of flat track, where the sport was born. Of course I want to go up against the toughest drivers in America and see who’s who.
The interview in Kurvinen’s home landscape is interrupted for a moment when a familiar-looking passer-by stops to ask about the flat track driver’s whereabouts. The passer-by is a long-time hit singer Kake Randelin, who is known as an avid motorsport enthusiast. In addition to rallying, he has also ridden two-wheelers.
– In fact, Lasse’s father used to take care of my bike when I was doing motocross, says Randelin, who lives almost next door to Kurvinen.
At the journalist’s request, he gives Kurvise the advice of a music professional on how to conquer America.
– Jenkkilä will be conquered with Finnish spirit and, of course, speed and stubbornness.