Leonard started riding at the age of 10, riding trail bikes before getting his licence and moving up to riding a Suzuki gsx250s in the early 80’s. The same time he discovered Castlereagh Dragway, so why not find out what the bike can do ! Anyway the bike managed to run 16 odd secs at 80ish mph, not setting the world alight by any stretch !!!!

Soon after Castlereagh was shut down and replaced with house’s and roads.

Drag racing at Oran park run by the Hot Rod Assoc .on a shorten track was the next best thing and by this time a Modified Suzuki Katana 1100 was the weapon of choice. Taking home a small cash of trophies only increased his hunger to go faster , then came a new Gsxr1100 (the day it came home from the dealer the motor was sitting on the garage floor!). A few more trophies and heaps of full track wheelies ensued!!

Eastern Creek Raceway was now going to hold Drag racing , Leonard entered for the very first race in mod bike and to his surprise finished runner up (still has the trophy) in the event against what was his largest field and first time since Castlereagh on a full length track.

It was time for a change, Eastern creek had gone a bit sour for drag racing so Leonard tried his hand at racing Motorcross and Enduro for a few years, managing to work his way up to ’A’ grade then to over35 expert, before work commitments (now self employed in Earthmoving and excavation ) finding it almost impossible to train and practise (still has a 50’ double jump left in the paddock just in case!).

This was not all bad as at the same time work had started on Western Sydney International Drag way , the cogs started to turn , why not build another street bike and have a go, only this time I’ll leave my mark.

Plans ensued and a Suzuki Hayabusa was purchased for the sole purpose of having a turbo fitted,chasis modified and used for ¼ mile action.

This bike was to revolutionise No-bar racing by taking it to new levels which had yet to be experienced in Australia. The bike became known as the “gold Busa” it’s debut was at the first meeting at WSID which ended being a street meet after rain caused the cancellation of the official first meet .

The bike ran 10.0 very first run, off to the stewards for a “super street” licence. Next pass 9.8 back to the stewards, this time it was good bye ! Sent home for going too fast ! The stewards informed me that he needed a “tech inspection” , etc etc,

No problems all the “T” crossed and the “I”s dotted back to the track to race in street meets and finally running an 8.5 sec pass at 170mph on a bike that was ridden to the track!

Entering the 2005 Eastcoast nationals was probably the most influencing decision in Leonard’s No-Bar regime reaching the masses, Going through the rounds found Leonard lined up for the Finials. In front of a packed crowd and media coverage Leonard scored a win with on of his trademark 8 sec passes winning by only a bike length against a wheelybarred bike!

Leonard became Track champion that year and also Runner up National Champion.

During the racing of the “Gold Busa” Leonard was working on a new project, called “Quicksilver” this bike was not going to be a “street bike” trying to be a race bike, This was a race bike that looked like a “street bike”. Engineered from the ground up it was state of the art chassis, motor, turbo system and efi all put together by Leonard himself. From experience with the “Gold Busa” he knew what he needed and how to go about to get it , from the moment it hit the track his competitor’s knew that no-bar racing had changed ….for ever!

First passes netted results of 8.7 down to 8.2sec, the 7 sec barrier was about to fall.

April 15 2006, Bikefest, The 7 sec pass had finally been broken with 7.98 ,7.97 and finally 7.88 all this on a bike you can ride to the local shop for milk and bread! It took his competition a further 12 months to break into the 7’s but by now the record was 7.58 at 195mph!!

Top Fuel Bike

Leonard had always had a desire to step up to the ultimate in drag bike racing Top Fuel Bike or as its known in Aust, Top bike.

He had spoke to Larry “Spiderman” Mcbride about building a bike back in early 2006, he knew it would work out much more efficient to purchase a bike rather than to build a nitro methane burning monster (not knowing the fuel very well at all) on his own.

As luck would have it, Europe’s Fastest and quickest fuelbike (6.04, 235mph) came up for sale. Roel Koedam had decided to retire from running his own team and ride his friends Vtwin fuel bike. A deal was done and Leonard and good friend left for SantaPod in England where they learned the ropes of fuel bike racing and crewing . This was the final time the bike was to race in Europe next stop WSID Sydney Aust.

With the 5 th fastest and quickest bike on the planet now in Australia and licensing done it’s time for Leonard to enter Top bike !

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