Salminen Named 2005 AMA Sports Athlete Of The Year
Kit Palmer | November 22, 2005
The following is a release from GNCC Racing –
Juha Salminen’s first year in AMA competition earned him one of its highest honors. After he dominated the 2005 Suzuki Grand National Cross Country Series, AMA Sports named Salminen the 2005 Sports Athlete of the Year at the third-annual AMA Sports Awards banquet at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, November 18. Salminen joins such names as Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart and Rodney Smith in the nearly 30 years of AMA Sports Athlete of the Year Award winners.
The award concluded a banner evening for GNCC racers. Pro Am ATV Champion Adam McGill won the Amateur Rider of the Year Award, and GNCC Women’s Champion Amanda Mastin collected the AMA Sports Female Rider of the Year Award. Class champions were recognized in all GNCC divisions, and top racers were nominated for special awards, including Walker Fowler as both AMA Sports and ATVA Youth Rider of the Year.
The Suzuki Grand National Cross Country Series will host its own banquets over the next two weekends, with the ATV Banquet on November 26th and the Bike Banquet on December 3, all at Lakeview Resort in Morgantown, West Virginia. For all the details on GNCC racing, check out the official website at GNCCRacing.com.
Kit Palmer | Off-Road Editor
Kit Palmer started his career at Cycle News in 1984 and he’s been testing dirt and streetbikes every since – plus covering any event that uses some form of a knobby tire. He’s also our resident motorcycle mileage man with a commute of 120 miles a day.
