Juha Salminen

Juha Salminen (born 27 September 1976 in Vantaa) is a Finnish former professional motorcycle enduro racer. He is a 13-time World Enduro Champion (including the overall world championship titles from 2000 to 2004) and has also won the German championship (1998) and the Spanish championship (2000–2002).

Salminen in January 2011.
Salminen at the German enduro race Rund um Zschopau in 2007.

He also competed in motocross, where he won the Finnish championship in 2002, and endurocross, where he won four times the Barcelona Indoor Enduro in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004. In addition to his personal titles, Salminen is a six-time winner of the International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) World Trophy with Team Finland. In 2020, Salminen was named an FIM Enduro Legend.[1]

Racing career

Riding for KTM, Salminen won six world titles in a row from 1999 to 2004. After the 2004 season, he wanted a new challenge and moved to the United States to ride for KTM in the Grand National Cross Country series. He won nine of the series' thirteen races and became the GNCC champion in his debut year. He was crowned both "AMA Amateur Athlete of the Year" and "GNCC Rider of the Year", chosen by fellow competitors.[2] In 2006, Salminen clinched his second GNCC title at the Yadkin Valley Stomp GNCC in Yadkinville, North Carolina.[3]

Salminen returned to the World Enduro Championship for the 2007 season, with David Knight replacing him in the KTM factory team in the US. Salminen won the first twelve races of the season, but had to miss out the Slovakian rounds due to breaking his collarbone in a British championship race in Britain. He returned to race for the season-ending rounds in France and secured his 12th world title.[4] In the 2008 season, Salminen won nine of the sixteen rounds and broke compatriot Kari Tiainen's record (77) for most wins in the world championship. However, a retirement in the first Spanish round proved costly for his title chase, and Yamaha's Johnny Aubert became the first man to beat Salminen to the title since the 1998 season.

For the 2009 season, Salminen signed a three-year contract with the new BMW factory team.[5] As BMW withdrew from the championship after non-satisfactory results, Salminen moved to Husqvarna for 2011 and won a record eighth class title.[6]

Career summary
Salminen at the 2008 WEC GP of Italy.
Season Series Class Team Races Wins Final placing
1996 World Enduro Championship 125 cc Husqvarna 6 0 13th
1997 World Enduro Championship 125 cc Honda 8 0 7th
1998 World Enduro Championship 125 cc KTM 14 2 3rd
1999 World Enduro Championship 125 cc KTM 14 7 1st
2000 World Enduro Championship 125 cc KTM 10 10 1st
2001 World Enduro Championship 250 cc KTM 11 8 1st
2002 World Enduro Championship 400 cc KTM 14 9 1st
2003 World Enduro Championship 500 cc KTM 14 10 1st
2004 World Enduro Championship E2 KTM 16 14 1st
2005 Grand National Cross Country Bikes KTM 13 9 1st
2006 Grand National Cross Country Bikes KTM 13 8 1st
2007 World Enduro Championship E1 KTM 14 13 1st
2008 World Enduro Championship E2 KTM 16 9 2nd
2009 World Enduro Championship E2 BMW 16 2 2nd
2010 World Enduro Championship E2 BMW 10 0 8th
2011 World Enduro Championship E1 Husqvarna 16 10 1st

ISDE
Season Location Class Team Final placing
1995 Jelenia Góra, Poland Junior Trophy Finland 5th
1996 Hämeenlinna, Finland Junior Trophy Finland 1st
1997 Brescia, Italy World Trophy Finland 2nd
1998 Traralgon, Australia World Trophy Finland 1st
2000 Granada, Spain World Trophy Finland 18th
2001 Brive-la-Gaillarde, France World Trophy Finland 16th
2002 Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic World Trophy Finland 1st
2003 Fortaleza, Brazil World Trophy Finland 1st
2004 Kielce, Poland World Trophy Finland 1st
2006 Taupo, New Zealand World Trophy Finland 1st
2007 La Serena, Chile World Trophy Finland 16th
2008 Serres, Greece World Trophy Finland 5th
2009 Figueira da Foz, Portugal World Trophy Finland 3rd
2010 Morelia, Mexico World Trophy Finland 3rd
2011 Kotka, Finland World Trophy Finland 1st

References
  1. "FIM Awards". fim-awards.com. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  2. "Juha Salminen named GNCC Rider of the Year". Enduro UK. Archived from the original on 27 November 2006. Retrieved 30 December 2006.
  3. "Juha Salminen is GNCC Champion again". GNCC Racing. Archived from the original on November 1, 2006. Retrieved 30 December 2006.
  4. "World Champion Salminen wins final season's E1 race". Londonbikers.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2007.
  5. "Juha Salminen vaihtoi KTM-pyöränsä Bemariin". YLE (in Finnish). 4 November 2008. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
  6. "Salmiselle kahdeksas enduromestaruus". MTV3 (in Finnish). 1 October 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
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