Ake Jonsson

Åke Jonsson
Ake Jonsson in the 1972 Trans-ama, St. Peters, Missouri
Nationality	Swedish
Born	October 5, 1942 (1942-10-05) (age 74) Hammerdal, Sweden
career
Years active	1963 -
Teams	Husqvarna, Maico, Yamaha
Wins	9
GP debut	1964 in Hedemora, Sweden (250cc)
First GP win	1966 in Schifflange, Luxembourg (250cc)

Åke Jonsson (born October 5, 1942 in Hammerdal) is a Swedish former professional racer. He was also a very skilled speed skater, and belonged to the Swedish top junior elite, before his racing career took off. Jonsson was one of the top riders in the during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Jonsson had three big chances to win the World Championship title, 1968, 1970 and maybe his best chance was in 1971.

Jonsson began his riding career in Sweden riding for the Husqvarna factory but found it difficult to get enough of free spareparts riding behind World Champions Bengt Aberg and Torsten Hallman. Nevertheless, he finished in third place in the 1968 500cc World Championship. In 1969 he was hired to ride for the Maico factory team. He rode a Maico to finish once again in third place in the 500cc World Championship. Later that season he won the Inter-AM series in America.

would be Jonsson's best year. Going into the final race of the 500cc world championship, Jonsson held a slight points lead over Suzuki's Roger De Coster. While leading the race, his motorcycle's spark plug came loose, allowing DeCoster to pass him for the victory and the World Championship. A few weeks later he took a slight revenge by winning both motos in the held in Vannes, France.

Jonsson was injured in the middle of the but, almost finished the season as the series runner up. At the last race for the season in Ettelbruck, Luxembourg, Jonsson won the first moto and, was leading the second moto on the last lap when his bike ran out of fuel, causing a DNF. Instead of being the runner up, he now took a fourth place in the 1972 world championship. Jonsson then won the season ending held in America, winning nine consecutive races at one point.

For the season, Jonsson was hired for three years, by the Yamaha to ride their new motorcycle with its innovative rear suspension using a single shock absorber called a monoshock. When he first joined the Yamaha team, he installed Maico front suspension to his bike, much to the chagrin of Yamaha, who then improved their own front forks. He had a series of mechanical difficulties and a lot of development in the motorcycle and failed to repeat his performance of the previous years. In , he returned to ride for the Maico team but, broke his collarbone and finished in eighth place in the world championship.