Stefan William Merriman (born 24 March 1973 in

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

) is a former professional

motorcycle trial Motorcycle trials, also known as observed trials, often called simply trial/s (with or without the plural "s"), is a non-speed event on specialized motorcycles. The sport is most popular in the United Kingdom and Spain, though there are participan ...

s and

enduro Enduro is a form of motorcycle sport run on extended cross-country, off-road courses. Enduro consists of many different obstacles and challenges. The main type of enduro event, and the format to which the World Enduro Championship is run, is a ...

rider. He won the

World Enduro Championship The FIM Enduro World Championship, formerly known as the World Enduro Championship, is the world championship series for enduro, a popular form of off-road motorcycle sport. The championship currently features three classes (E1, E2 and E3), along ...

in 2000 (250cc), 2001 (400cc), 2003 (250cc), and 2004 (Enduro 1).

Career

Merriman began riding trials at an early age. In 1985 when he was 12 years old and competing against adult riders, he won the clubman class at the New Zealand Trials Championship riding a Fantic 80. Two years later when he was 14, he won the New Zealand Experts Championship. In August 1989 he won a two-day international youth trial at

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

. and while he was in England, he also finished second in the YMSA youth six days trial in Derbyshire. When he returned to New Zealand he won the expert class at the 1989 New Zealand Trials Championship. In 1990 he moved to Yorkshire to live and in May was 10th in the

Scottish Six Days Trial The Scottish Six Days Trial is an internationally recognised Motorcycle trials competition, which has been running since 1909 (with breaks for the two world wars) making it the oldest motorcycle trials event in the world. Motorcycle riders from al ...

(SSDT) and received the award for best newcomer. The following year he finished 15th in the SSDT and in 1992 he finished 4th. In the 1991 and 1992 SSDTs he won best performance of the day awards. While living in England he rode in the British and World trials championships and received support from the UK Aprilia importers, Gerald Richardson and Malcolm Rathmell. He rode in 21 rounds of the World Championship from 1990 to 1992, with a best result of 16th at the Finnish round in 1991. He was also 6th in the British Championship that year. Merriman returned to New Zealand in 1992 then moved to Brisbane in 1993. Later that year he won the Australian and the New Zealand Trials Championships. In 1994 he finished second to

Graham Jarvis Graham Powley Jarvis (August 25, 1930 – April 16, 2003) was a Canadian character actor in American films and television from the 1960s to the early 2000s. Early years Jarvis was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Margaret Biddulph (Scratche ...

in the Australian Trials Championship, and he won it again in 1995. Around this time he also competed in road racing and won the Australian Supersport 600 championship in 1995. From 1996 he began competing in enduro events, riding on an Australian motorcycle competition licence when he competed in international events. He won the World Enduro Championship in the 250cc class in 2000, the 400cc in 2001, 250cc in 2003 and Enduro One in 2004. In 2003, Merriman also came close to beating

Juha Salminen Juha Salminen (born 27 September 1976 in Vantaa) is a Finnish former professional motorcycle enduro racer. He is a 13-time World Enduro Champion (including the overall world championship titles from 2000 to 2004) and has also won the German cham ...

for the overall World title, finishing second in the overall championship only three points (266 vs. 269) behind Salminen. He led the championship before the final heat where he fell and finished second as Salminen took the win and the championship. In 2004, Merriman moved to

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

, winning his fourth world title and placing third overall, behind Salminen and

Samuli Aro Samuli Aro (born 12 April 1975 in Järvenpää) is a Finnish enduro rider. He is a five-time World Enduro Champion and has also won the International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) World Trophy with Team Finland five times. Aro debuted in the World End ...

and ahead of

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. The following year, he won eleven of the 18 rounds in the Enduro 2 class, but with four retirements could not challenge

KTM KTM AG (Kraftfahrzeug Trunkenpolz Mattighofen, formerly KTM Sportmotorcycle AG) is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and sports car manufacturer owned by Pierer Mobility AG and the Indian manufacturer Bajaj Auto. It was formed in 1992 but traces ...

for the title. In 2006, he took three wins and placed third in the championship. Merriman signed with

Aprilia Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded immediately after World War II in Noale, Italy, by Alberto Beggio. The company started as a manufacturer of bicycles and moved on to manufacture scooters and small-capacity motorcycles. ...

to race their V-Twin machine in the 2007 World Enduro Championship, and placed fifth in the E2 championship, with one second place as his best event result. In the 2008 season, he competed in the E3 class, winning three of the last four events and again placed fifth in the standings.

World Enduro Championship results

References

1973 births Australian motorcycle racers New Zealand motorcycle racers Motorcycle trials riders Enduro riders Living people Sportspeople from Tauranga {{motorcycle-racing-bio-stub