Finnish rider Esko Kuparinen runs his Motomarket Honda through the dogleg at Daytona International Speedway during the 1990 Daytona 200. Esko had quite a road racing career that spanned several generations of machines. He occasionally raced GPs from the 1960s through the ‘90s, scoring a career-best fourth at his home Finland 500cc Grand Prix in Imatra in 1969 aboard a Matchless. He raced GPs occasionally through 1990 well into the 500cc two-stroke era of Grand Prix racing. He raced against the likes of Giacomo Agostini and Phil Read, through to the Kenny Roberts, Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey era. Esko had a solid finish of 15^thin the Daytona 200 in 1990 in a field of 80 riders. An internet search revealed that Esko runs or recently ran BMW’s Superbike racing program in Finland and Germany as recently as last year. His son Eeki is also a racer.

Finnish rider Esko Kuparinen runs his Motomarket Honda through the dogleg at Daytona International Speedway during the 1990 Daytona 200. Esko had quite a road racing career that spanned several generations of machines. He raced GPs from the 1960s through the ‘90s. (Larry Lawrence photo)