What a Saturday for Kallio - great progress and a baby girl!

Mika Kallio’s work continued in Valencia today with a practice session in the morning and the qualifying in the afternoon. The day was especially eventful since Kallio got some good news before the qualifying - he has a healthy baby girl waiting at home.

Kallio also picked up speed on the track. The improvement Kallio was hoping for yesterday was definitely achieved, and his lap time dropped by over two seconds. Kallio is starting the race tomorrow from the 20th position, and he is very happy with how the day went.

- Of course it was a relief to hear good news from home. We now have a beautiful, healthy baby girl and Inka (mother) is also doing well. This is a good place to continue towards the race, and I’m sure staying focused will be even easier. Now it’s my turn to get the job done, the new father commented.

- Everyone in our team, including the owner, were very happy with today. The starting point was very difficult after yesterday. I was at the end of the queue, and significantly slower than the front. Considering how we started yesterday and even this morning, the result was excellent. We improved the grip of the tyres by making some adjustments, and it gave me confidence for the race. Finding the feel for the bike helped me shave down my time, Kallio reiterated the reasons for his success.

Kallio left behind a few riders,but in the qualifying it was more important to succeed in adjusting the bike and improving the lap times. Kallio had modest expectations for the qualifying, which were met.

- Tomorrow’s starting position is good, because we get to see how the other riders measure up immediately, and we don’t have to ride at the end of the queue. This weekend has not been as easy as I had previously hoped, so I am happy with this. My chances in tomorrow’s race are much better now. We are stronger in the race as a whole, instead of single laps. If we get a good start, anything can happen, the experienced Kallio assumed.

Kallio left behind his old stablemate Tito Rabat, but didn’t admit to it being a specific goal.

- We had the chance to exchange a few words with the old team. An old stablemate, who still rides with them, was left behind and of course I am happy with that. Rabat and I have had some close competitions on the track, and we are likely going to ride in the same group tomorrow as well. That’s a good place to see who’s the best, Kallio grinned.

Kallio has modestly positive expectations for tomorrow’s race. They might be aiming for the first world championship points for KTM.

- If everything goes perfectly tomorrow and I reach my full potential, we have a chance to achieve the points, since the top 15 do receive them. The likelihood of receiving points is slim, but I have every chance to fight to be in the top 15 tomorrow. I feel very good about my bike right now, and I feel like we’re going to go a lot faster tomorrow. We don’t need to make any big adjustments after today. We have everything under control. We are going to try and keep the bike in the same condition while warming up, so that I can gain more confidence from the laps and we’ll be ready for the race. And on Monday, I’ll start doing slightly different work with the little one, Kallio summarized.
 
Photo: Romero S. 

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