Juha Salminen


Juha Salminen is a Finnish former professional motorcycle enduro racer. He is a 13-time World Enduro Champion and has also won the German championship and the Spanish championship.
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 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 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

SeasonSeriesClassTeamRacesWinsFinal placing
1996World Enduro Championship125 ccHusqvarna6013th
1997World Enduro Championship125 ccHonda807th
1998World Enduro Championship125 ccKTM1423rd
1999World Enduro Championship125 ccKTM1471st
2000World Enduro Championship125 ccKTM10101st
2001World Enduro Championship250 ccKTM1181st
2002World Enduro Championship400 ccKTM1491st
2003World Enduro Championship500 ccKTM14101st
2004World Enduro ChampionshipE2KTM16141st
2005Grand National Cross CountryBikesKTM1391st
2006Grand National Cross CountryBikesKTM1381st
2007World Enduro ChampionshipE1KTM14131st
2008World Enduro ChampionshipE2KTM1692nd
2009World Enduro ChampionshipE2BMW1622nd
2010World Enduro ChampionshipE2BMW1008th
2011World Enduro ChampionshipE1Husqvarna16101st

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