Juha Salminen

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

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.

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. In 2006, Salminen clinched his second GNCC title at the Yadkin Valley Stomp GNCC in Yadkinville, North Carolina.

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. 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. As BMW withdrew from the championship after non-satisfactory results, Salminen moved to Husqvarna for 2011 and won a record eighth class title.

Career summary

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 Taupō, 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