Finland is one of the motocross countries that has something of an up and down history when it comes to Grand Prix motocross. Of course, one of the first countries to run Grand Prix rounds, their first coming in 1962 at the Ruskeasanta circuit. Unfortunately, while Finland ran 66 GPs from that opener in 1962 until 1999, they have run but 12 since 1999. Four of those 12 coming between 2013 and 2023.

Ruskeasanta ran the majority of Grand Prix’s in the 60’s mainly in the 500cc class, which started their history in Finland in 1965 when legendary British rider, Jeff Smith won his first of two at the Ruskeasanta circuit. Smith would win again in 1966, before names like Paul Friedrichs won in 1968 and 1971. Arne Kring won in 1970.

The 500cc class continued to run at Ruskeasanta right up until 1992, with some of the real legends winning at the circuit, including Roger de Coster in 1974, Heikki Mikkola in 1977 and 1978.

Eric Geboers had a love affair with the circuit, winning in the 500cc class in 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1990. Georges Jobe won in 1987, and as mentioned in a story yesterday, Australia got their first ever GP win in 1989 with Jeff Leisk. In 1998 Joel Smets added his name to the winners list at Ruskeasanta, and another 500cc World champion, Andrea Bartolini rounded out the 90s with a win at the Kouvola circuit in 1999.

In the 250cc class this class would swap between Ruskeasanta and Hyvinkaa and it was local rider, Aarno Erola who won at Ruskeasanta circuit in 1962, then came wins by Torsten Hallman and Joel Robert in 1963 and 1964. Hallman won again in 1965 and his fellow Swedes, Ole Pettersson and Hakan Andersson who would take wins in 1966 and 1967.

In 1968 another local Finnish rider would win the GP in Kalevi Vehkonen, before Robert would win again in 1969. Mikkola got a victory in the 250 class in 1970, with Sylvain Geboers winning in 1971 and 1972. Hakan Andersson won in 1973, with sand specialists, Harry Everts and Kees Van Der Ven won in 1974, 1975, 1979, 1980 and 1981.

World 250 champion, Guennady won in 1977 and Torlief Hansen in 1978. American Danny Laporte won in 1983 and other to win up until 1996 were Marc Velkeneers, Pekka Vehkonen, Alex Puzar, Vehkonen again, Rob Herring, Stefan Everts, Yves Demaria, and Marniqu Bervoets twice. Again though, Finland disappeared from the calendar in the 250cc class.

When the 125cc class was introduced in the mid-1970’s the Finnish GP was held at several different circuits, from Tampere, Salo, Kuopio, and of course, Ruskeasanta and Hyvinkaa. Gaston Rahier won at the Tampere circuit in 1976, with Harry Everts winning in 1979 and 1980, Michele Rinaldi in 1981, 1982 and 1984. Velkeneers would win in 1983, with Dave Strijbos winning in 1985 and 1988. Other winners in the 1990s were John Van Den Berk in 1986 and 1987 and Alessio Chiodi in 1997. Grant Langston won a 125cc GP in Finland in 2000.

The Finnish GP was lost for many years, with spasmodic rounds held in different classes, and it didn’t really return on a most consistent basis until 2013, when Antonio Cairoli won the MXGP class and Jeffrey Herlings MX2. Cairoli and Herlings added wins a year later in 2014 and then the Fins had to wait a decade or so, before it returned in 2022 and 2023, with Romain Febvre and Andrea Adamo winning there. All were held at the Hyvinkaa circuit, apart from 2023, which moved to the Vantaa circuit.

Now, in 2025, we return to Finland, this time the KymiRing and while Herlings and Tim Gajser won’t be racing, you just know that Romain Febvre, the winner in 2023 and Lucas Coenen, will be making sure the Finnish crowd are entertained.