World Enduro Championship (WEC): Juha Salminen is Vice Wereldkampioen
Munich. As factory rider Juha Salminen parked his BMW
G 450 X inside the Parc Fermé at St Flour, France, all the
pressure of a demanding season fell off his shoulders. Salminen had
clinched runner-up honours in the hotly contested World Enduro
Championship (WEC), to become Vice World Champ in the toughest class
of them all: the E2 category. Now, after a difficult start to the
campaign, he and his team had reason to celebrate.
The success came as a result of hard and tirelessly work carried
out in the past year. The first races didn´t go according to
plan and the BMW Motorrad Motorsport riders struggled to get familiar
with their machinery. But the whole staff kept working on every detail
and, step by step, the factory bikes became better and better.
"The season was too short in the end," said Juha
Salminen. The quiet Finn referred to his impressive finish in the
series, where he scored a number of wins and second places. Maybe,
with some more races left, the title could have gone his way. The team
earned two wins, one runner-up position and a third place at the final
two meetings in Greece and France.
These achievements tell a lot about BMW´s competitiveness.
Brand and bike now clearly belong to the top league. Both in the WEC
and off road racing in general. This is further underlined by Simo
Kirssi´s Cross Country success and Andreas Lettenbichler´s
recent top results this June and August. The German finished third at
the Erzberg before putting his BMW on top of the podium at the
infamous Red Bull Romaniacs.
The World Enduro season is in the books, but work continues for
the riders. The Six Days (team world championships) are to follow in
October and Simo Kirssi plans to defend his German and European Cross
Country title. And the "extreme" division is gearing up
towards the Roof of Africa, the legendary extreme rally held in the
Lesotho mountains. Andreas Lettenbichler goes there with the ambition
to bring this victory to Munich also.
Berti Hauser, Director BMW Motorrad Motorsport:
"First of all I would like to congratulate Juha and the team.
This is a remarkable success, just like the achievements of Simo and
Marko (Tarkalla). Admittedly, before the season, we aimed at the
title. But we soon had to realise that this was too ambitious. We
suffered a bit at the beginning. Yet, with strong commitment and
plenty of passion coming from Markus Theobald, Wolfgang Fischer and
their staff, we did manage to turn things around.
They addressed the specifics of WEC racing and soon Juha was
able to fight for podium positions. But we wanted more. We wanted to
win and we wanted the vice championship. And that´s exactly what
we got.
I´m touched and proud to see the team alter from the
middle of the field into a front-runner. Juha ended only six points
behind the world champ, he did take the vice title and he guided us to
runner-up in the manufacturer´s championship. This success is
based on a lot of work. Obviously we´re delighted. The team has
all the ingredients to be capturing the title in the future."
Final Results Enduro World Championship 2009
Enduro 2
1.Johnny Aubert (KTM) 325 Points; 2. Juha Salminen (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 272; 3. Joakim Ljundgren (Husaberg); 4. Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvaran) 219; 5. Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 213; 6. Allesandro Belometti (KTM) 185; 7. Rodrig Thain (TM) 180; 8. Vallteri Salonen (Husaberg) 155; 9. Simo Kirssi (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 131; 10. Fabrizio Dini (Beta) 199;
Enduro 3
1. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 324 Points; 2. Christophe Nambotin (GasGas) 292; 3. Sebastien Guillaume (Husqvarna) 283; 4. Samuli Aro (KTM) 258; 5. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 197; 6. Fabio Mossini (Honda) 181; 7. Marko Tarkkala (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 166; 8. Rudy Cotton (Beta) 105; 9. Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) 92; 10. Alessandro Botturi (KTM) 89;
