Jari Aulis Mäkinen (born 13 June 1990) is a former

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

rider from Finland.

Career

Born in

Hämeenkyrö Hämeenkyrö (; sv, Tavastkyro) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Pirkanmaa region, and is located from Tampere. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The ne ...

, Mäkinen took up speedway at the age of eight. He has ridden for several teams in Sweden (including current team

Rospiggarna Rospiggarna is a motorcycle speedway team based in Hallstavik, Sweden. The club was founded in 1930 and were named ''Orion'', although it did not compete in the Swedish speedway leagues until 1966. The club joined the Swedish Division Three in 196 ...

), Poland, and Denmark, and in the UK for

Mildenhall Fen Tigers The Mildenhall Fen Tigers are a British speedway team, founded in 1975 and currently riding in the National Development League. History 1971–1989 The original track was built in 1971 on farm land owned by Terry Waters, with chef Bernie Klat ...

in 2008 and in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for

Somerset Rebels The Somerset Rebels were a British speedway team based in Highbridge, Somerset. Founded in 2000, the club competed in the British SGB Championship until 2019. Their home track was located at the Oak Tree Arena. History The club's stadium, The ...

in 2009.Makinen Signs for Rebels
, speedwaygb.co, 27 August 2009, retrieved 2011-11-18 In November 2011 he signed with

Leicester Lions Leicester Lions are a speedway team which originally operated from 1968 until 1983.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. The club returned to speedway for the 2011 Premier League season, moving up to the Elite League ...

for the 2012 Premier League season. He joined

Ipswich Witches The Ipswich Witches are a British speedway club based at Foxhall Stadium near Ipswich, Suffolk. They compete in the British SGB Premiership. Meetings are staged on most Thursdays from March until October, normally commencing at 7.30pm (first ra ...

in 2013 but was dropped early in the season. Mäkinen won the Finnish Under-21 Championship in 2007. In 2014 Makinen decided to sit out the UK season and concentrate on his racing commitments in Sweden and his native Finland which proved to be the right decision as his reduced schedule helped him become the national champion of Finland after winning the

Finnish Individual Speedway Championship The Finnish Individual Speedway Championship is a Motorcycle speedway championship held each year to determine the Finnish national champion. It was first staged in 1955. Winners See also Finland national speedway team References {{Interna ...

in 2014. In 2015 Makinen again rode only in Sweden and Finland while trying to secure a reserve berth in the F.I.M Finnish Grand Prix as well as defending his national title.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Makinen, Jari 1990 births Living people Finnish speedway riders Leicester Lions riders Ipswich Witches riders