At the Enduro World Championship, the motto is “Teamwork makes the dream work.” A bit of a cliché, perhaps, but there's much more to success than just the rider's skill.

WORLD CUP TITLE CROWNS NEW PARTNERSHIP

If anyone knows how to win, it's 13-time FIM Enduro World Champion Juha Salminen (born 1976 in Finland). Although he has long since retired from elite competition, the cool Finn still holds a special place in the annals of MOTOREX. It was exactly 20 years ago that he won the first Enduro World Cup title under the aegis of the newly formed partnership between motorcycle manufacturer KTM and MOTOREX.

OFFROAD AGAINST THE CLOCK

The sport of enduro is a sort of rally race on two wheels in which men and women traverse a rugged landscape while riding against the clock. It is definitely not a sport for those with a nervous disposition. In races lasting from three hours to six days, in rocky terrain, over tree trunks, through mud and other extreme obstacles, Juha knows well that arriving at the finish line, to say nothing of winning the race, takes more than just hard work. “As a racer you can get to the podium if everything goes well,” says Juha. “But to make it there you need a good support team and a perfectly prepared machine with products that ensure dependable performance. I was lucky enough to win many titles in my career. But it was only during my time at KTM when smaller, more powerful four-stroke bikes were coming onto the scene that I realized how important quality lubricants are. The partnership between KTM and MOTOREX was a stroke of luck, and the many titles were my way of saying thanks.”