Q&A - Mika's fans have asked

Mika's fans were able to ask questions via Mika's Facebook-site. Here are the questions and Mika's answers to them.

Do you like Ice Hockey?

Yes, I like Ice hockey. I ’m always looking forward to watch Ice hockey World Championship games and Olympics games. In Finland my favourite team is HIFK.

Does ice racing help with Moto2?

I think that Ice racing is a great training method for Road Racing and other motorcycle racing too.

In Finland, where we have long winter, it’s great that you can maintain your riding that way, when you’re not able to ride on the track because of snow.

Ice Racing teaches you how to control your bike, because bike is sliding all the time, but biggest advantage comes from riding lines. It will also teach you, how to utilise different riding lines and how to adapt the changes of conditions.

Over the next few years will you stay in Moto2 or try to get another ride in MotoGP or move away to British or World Superbikes?

My aim is to get back to MotoGP-class, but only if I can find a team, which is competitive enough. I believe it’s better to stay in Moto2-class in a competitive team and ride for wins there, rather than go to a mid-class team in MotoGP-class.

I don’t see other series that interesting at the moment, but never say never.

We all know that Ducati has been known after Stoner as a career killer in MotoGP. What were you're feelings after the contract ended with Pramac Ducati? And was it hard to get a new contract after that?

I think we did quite a good job during my rookie season in 2009, we were one of the quickest private riders and I was also named to a Rookie of the year. For the next season 2010 Ducati changed the bike and it wasn’t anymore that good for me.

Then I injured my collarbone during first half of the season and after that my riding didn’t work at all.

I think biggest problem was that Ducati didn’t listen any other riders than Casey Stoner and now they are paying for it.

I believe that my career would have gone different way, if I could have ridden some other bike than Ducati. But I hope that someday I’ll still get another chance.

Mika, what is favourite race victory?

I think it was Donington 2008, in 250cc class. because I started from the back and won the whole race.

What is your favourite track?

Sachsenring in Germany is probably my favourite track and suits me well.

Are you superstitious?

No, I’m not superstitious at all.

Do you have already some plans for season 2015?

I’m hoping that I’ll get back to MotoGP, but at the moment I don’t have anything to tell.

What do you think about your teammate, Rabat?

He is a nice guy and we get along very well. He is quite a quiet and stays on his own, but that suits me fine. I like to do things on my own during the weekend, I don’t want to be chitchatting.

What was the most scary moment of your career?

Maybe the most scary moment was in Brno tests in 2008, when I lost my front brake in the end of long straight. Next corner was 180 degrees and there were railings everywhere, so it was quite a bad situation for me.

The only choice I had, was to turn my bike down, but it wasn’t easy when my speed was 250 km/h. I tried to use rear brake and get my bike sliding and for God’s sake it worked, but soon my rear tyre took a grip and I did a huge high-sider.

Later my data engineer told me that during the high-sider my speed was 199 km/h. But luckily, my injuries were really small compared to that they could have been.

What kind of sports/hobbies do you like to do outside racing?

My hobbies are fishing, boating and skiing.

What bike from your career was the most enjoyable you've raced on?

I think best bike so far has been KTM 250cc bike. It was powerful, light and fast and worked very well for me.

In the distant future, once bike career has finished, do you plan into fulltime management, running a team? Doing some other form of racing, such as cars, or something completely different?

I don’t have any plans for the future, I hope that there will still be many years to ride. We have our own Kallio Racing Team in Finland, it’s our family business and our mission is to help young Finnish riders to enter world-level series. Maybe I’ll work more with that project when my own career is over.

I could see myself driving with cars, but we’ll see.

Do you want to send greeting to your fans?

Thank you for all these questions and enjoy your summer holidays!

Photo: Gold and Goose Photography

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