“ Gunnar was an ideal sportsman ,” said employer Axel Löfström about his factory rider during 1927-30 . Some of Kalén ' s greatest successes were his five wins in the classic Novemberkasan between 1926- 30 . His sixth win would then have followed in 1933 when Gunnar rode his factory Husqvarna . At the start there were 13 , of which 11 retired – either by machine trouble or out of exhaustion .
In 1929 Gunnar Kalén won most of his races all over the country . When he looked back on his triumphant season Gunnar had 19 victories and came home second not less than 10 times . All achievements were attained on his Belgian Saroléa machine . But in 1930 that was no more . Husqvarna had noticed this privileged rider and offered Kalén a factory contract , which he accepted . His skill connected perfectly with the vast experience of team manager Folke Mannerstedt , who helped develop competition machines that were of premium quality - and they were fast !
In the beginning of 1931 , the SuperSwede set an amazing record on ice in Norway . The event was held on Lake Gjer south of Oslo where Kalén entered both as a solo , and sidecar rider . In the solo class he beat the old ice record doing 142.5 km / h on his 1,140cc Husqvarna . When he did 116 km / h on the sidecar machine , people started to
ON THE PEGS // PAGE 176