Kalevi “Kale” Vehkonen and the finest moments at Erkylän lukot
July 28th marks 58 years since the moment Kalevi Vehkonen blasted his Husqvarna to two magnificent heat victories at the 250cc World Championship round at Erkylän lukot in Hyvinkää (1968). At just 21 years old, Vehkonen was in a league of his own in the race, leading both heats practically from start to finish. Everyone had to watch the young Finn’s back, including the 1968 world champion, Belgium’s Joel Robert.
That World Championship victory at Erkylän lukot marked the beginning of Vehkonen’s fierce rise toward the world elite. The following year, 1969, Vehkonen also rode to a victory in the opening heat at Lukot. In the second heat, he crashed hard, and the battle for the heat win was lost in the sand of Erkylä. The third World Championship heat victory of Vehkonen’s career (250cc) came in 1971 in Poland. That race in Poland is historic in that Vehkonen and Heikki Mikkola split the heat wins between them, and thus the Finns took a magnificent one-two finish (Source: MM-Motocrossia Antti Pyrhösen kyydissä, ed. Jukka Saastamoinen).
In Hyvinkää, Vehkonen was also in good form in August 1971, when he finished fourth in the overall results of the race. In the 1970 season, Vehkonen, together with Heikki Mikkola and Reino Hahl, won World Championship bronze for Finland in the team competition.
For the 1972 season, Vehkonen signed a factory contract with the Spanish manufacturer Montesa. Vehkonen was in stunning form and was one of the fastest riders in the 250cc World Championship series. It is just a pity that Montesa’s technology failed a few times at crucial moments, and a World Championship medal that already looked certain turned into a fourth place in the series. Which is, of course, a brilliant achievement in itself. At Erkylän lukot, Vehkonen was in form again in August 1972. In the first heat, he was third, and in the second, one step better, second.
Vehkonen also rode as a factory rider for Montesa in the 1973 season, but he did not reach the same level of speed as in the previous season. For the next two seasons, Vehkonen still rode for the Husqvarna factory team.
Vehkonen has two Finnish championships; 1968 and 1974. Kale also distinguished himself in enduro, and he has, among other things, the overall victory of the 1968 Päijänne Ajo (Päijänne Rally) in his pocket (Husqvarna). He ended his career at the peak of his performance at the end of the 1975 season.
Kalevi Vehkonen b. 26.9.1946, d. 3.1.2023