Round 12
OFF-ROAD
~
uha Salminen moved to the United States to
experience something new. After years
dominating off-road racing in Europe, racing
in the Suzuki Grand National Cross Country
Series has provided plenty of new experiences, and the friendly Finn has raced on
merican rocks, sand, mud and just about any
other terrain an off-roader can face. And he's had
to deal with specialists in each discipline: Doug
Henry in the sand, Barry Hawk in the rocks, and
an assortment of local threats that seem to rise
and fall each week.
No matter what the terrain or the challenge,
Salminen has been game, and that's why he was
able to wrap up the 2005 Suzuki GNCC title with
ease. At the next-to-Iast round of the series, at
Power line Park GNCC in St. Clairsville, Ohio,
Salminen merely needed a 15th-place finish to
wrap up the title, but instead, he held the pack off
again and won the race.
"I knew what I had to do; I had to continue to
race at a high level like I had all year," the KTM
rider said. "Fifteenth place wasn't an option for
me and my team."
46 OCTOBER 26, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS
Suzuki Grand National Cross Country Series
But in order to remain at that high level,
Salminen would have to face another set of rugged
conditions and a racer who is very familiar with
them.
At St. Clairsville, the challenge was Kawasaki
Team
Green's
Chuck
Woodford.
The
"Woodchuck" lives 10 minutes from the track,
and he had recently taken the points lead in the
AMA National Hare Scrambles Series with a win a
week earlier. So Woodford was confident - and
the conditions were in his favor, as well.
Rain all day Friday and Saturday turned the
course into a slick mess on Sunday. The greasy
Ohio clay always favors riders who grew up in
those conditions, so the fast pack in Ohio consisted of three Ohio riders - Woodford, rookie
Charlie Mullins, and veteran Fred Andrews. But
Salminen was still one notch better. That's what
made him the race winner and series champion.
"It's fun and it's good for the sport,"
Salminen said of the growing competition. "It's
surprising how the guys can go good at one race
and then not so good at the other. But the conditions are the same for everyone, and I feel like
