“In West Germany I was part of a collective crash that happened right after the start. Andy Roberton crashed with a Polish rider and I couldn’t avoid the British rider. It took me some time before I managed to fix the bike and when I started again I was almost one lap down : the race was over for me”. After Beuern, Heikki lose his second place in the standing to Ake Jonsson: but he gets it back after the Swedish rider broke his breaks in Apolda.

“That was a difficult race for me in Eastern Germany, there was a lot of dust and to take over was a dangerous task”.

The two last Grand Prix Heikki was not able to retain his second place in the championship, crashing in Belgium to finish 8th in this race and then draining his engine in Luxemburg, he had to let by Paul Friedrichs in the final ranking.

As a conclusion to this interview, we talked about long-term perspective, especially about the possible offers from Japanese factory's at the end of the 1973 season.

“From a technical point of view, my HVA is as competitive as the Suzuki bike. The fact that the Japanese are emerging in the motocross market is a good thing as it brings more opportunities for riders to get contracts. But there is a lack of good GP rider. It takes about five years to become a good rider at international level. I’ll probably get some offers by 1973, but first, I need to get the proper results to deserve them”.

Since then, the HVA factory has decided to send Heikki in the 250cc class with the hope to see him as the rider who will put an end to Joël Robert’s reign. The next GP will take place in Spain in April and will probably allow us to witness the confrontation Robert vs Mikkola. This will probably spice up this championship which became monotonous by the superiority of Robert.