Juha Salminen – Homeland Hero

Regarded by many as one of the greatest ever off-road motorcycle riders, Juha Salminen - Husqvarna has won pretty much everything there is to win as far as the discipline of enduro is concerned. At thirty-four years old he is one of the more veteran campaigners in the paddock, however despite this he continues to enjoy a long and illustrious career.
 
After a disappointing 2010 season the ultra professional Finn is back to his winning ways and is currently leading the E1 category of the FIM Enduro World Championship, on course to take his eighth World title. Alongside a whole host of other outstanding career achievements, Salminen has been a member of a winning International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) team no less than five times and, providing nothing disastrous happens, looks set to record his sixth victory later today.
 
With only today remaining of the eighty-sixth edition of the ISDE, held in Kotka, Finland, the Finnish World Trophy squad is over twenty-seven minutes ahead of their closest rival. The first five days of competition have witnessed some amazing levels of riding, with Finland topping the World Trophy general standings each and every day since the competition began last Monday 8 August.
 
The host nation’s current domination and winning formula is no secret though. With a strong mixture of both new and experienced riders making up this year’s squad, Finland entered the competition clear favourites to lift the World Trophy title. Juha’s abundance of knowledge has been backed up by seasoned ISDE campaigners Marko Tarkkala – Husaberg and Jari Mattila – KTM, both of whom were members of the Finnish ISDE winning team that last lifted the World Trophy in 2006. Team-mate Eero Remes - KTM has a number of previous ISDE’s under his belt, though is yet to take his first overall victory at the event. Fresh blood is brought to these experienced names in the form of Valtteri Salonen – TM and Matti Seistola – Husqvarna, who complete the well rounded, comprehensive line up.
 
2006 also marked the first and only time that Juha has won the unofficial individual overall title for the ISDE. This year it has been team-mate Remes who has been fastest through the event but Juha tries not to put too much emphasis on an overall victory, ”The overall victory is nice to win, but it is not an official award so I do not concentre on it so much. This year Eero has done a brilliant job and he deserves the victory, but the most important thing is the overall result for the team.”
 
As is tradition the final day’s competition will consist of a dedicated motocross test. Providing nothing unforeseen happens, this final challenge remains the only thing between the Finnish World Trophy team and ISDE glory. As usual Juha was predictably focused yet calm prior to the final event, “Tomorrow we must do exactly the same as we have done so far in the competition. It is important to find the line between going fast enough to stay focused, although not too fast that you crash. I made one small mistake in day three I think and apart from that it has been a good race. We will all ride to our maximum and try not to make any silly problems.”