Quote Originally Posted by Allez Andruet View Post
Mahonen is one of the biggest jokes there's ever been in the sport. He tried his best to kill the national scene when he was running things in Finland back in the 90's and almost succeed in it. It's no wonder he has said something as idiotic as this (that the current rallies are too long). The less he's involved in any decisions, the better for the sport.
Mahonen just lost vote for Finnish ASN's AKK Motorsport's chairmanship. Current chairman Juhani Pakari stays in the position. Vote was very close, 199-178, which means clearly that the motorsport field in Finland is divided into two camps. From what I've heard, Mahonen would've been the choice for rallying scene - if someone knows more, please tell. I can understand that for Finnish ASN Mahonen would've been understandable choice given his international contacts. I'm not saying I like him, but this isn't a popularity contest.

Considering Evans' article (what Colin Clark probably describes as a work of world class journo!) and things Mahonen brings forth there - it's the difficult question of how to please manufacturers (who pay for this), desirebly bigger light user service park goers (who pay for this) and consideribly big, but not easily growing heavy user special stage goers (who pay for this). We can't have all. We also can't have rallying as per pre-95 because that society isn't here anymore. We can't have more events without giving away something from the old. There's a lot of pressure involved, for decision makers like Mahonen especially. I think we all understand the different sides, but there isn't working standard solution for every event in the current format. My ideal is relatively close to what we have now.