Mika Kallio
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Mika Kallio (born November 8, 1982 in Valkeakoski) is a Finnish motorcycle racer. He started racing in 1997 and won the Finnish championship in road racing in 1999 and 2000. In 2000, he also became the Nordic champion after finishing second the year before. In addition to traditional road racing, Kallio has won the Finnish motorcycle ice racing championship in 2000, 2004 and 2005 in the 125cc class and in 2004 also in the 500cc class. He currently drives for Red Bull KTM in the MotoGP 125cc class. For the 2007 season, he will move up to 250cc.
Achievements in MotoGP 125cc
- Rookie of the Year in 2002
- First podium (2.) at Sepang in 2003
- First pole position at Estoril in 2005
- First win at Estoril in 2005
- Second overall in the world championship (8 poles, 4 wins and 237 points) in 2005
2005 Qatar Grand Prix incident
Kallio lost the championship in 2005 by just five points to Thomas Lüthi. He lost exactly five points, with only three races to go, at the Qatar Grand Prix when his KTM team-mate, Gábor Talmácsi, pulled out from behind the slipstream and passed him on the last few metres of the race to take the win by 0.017 seconds [1]. Kallio had started from pole position and led every lap of the race and wasn't pushing on the home straight anymore, as Talmácsi had been ordered to stay back by the team due to the fact that he wasn't a title contender. After the race, Talmácsi explained that he wasn't aware that it was the last lap of the race. However, this contradicts the way he celebrated the victory right after the finish line, and the fact that the team had put up a "one lap to go" sign for him on the penultimate lap [2]. Team KTM's celebration, instead, quickly turned to amazement when they realized what had happened. Talmácsi still drove for KTM in the last three races, but was fired immediately after the season finale at Valencia. Had he obeyed the team order, Kallio and KTM would've won the championship due to higher number of wins (5 vs. Lüthi's 4).