Bad luck again for Richie’s SX dream.

January 04, 2008

MOTO Magazine managed to bump into British rider Richie Leech who has now based in himself in sunny California at the MX Heaven training facility – we sat down with the Richie for a quick HIGH FIVE!

MOTO: So what’s happening Richie?
 RL: Everything was going awesome and I felt really confident until my Suzuki hit a false neutral on a triple riding at MX Heaven supercross track on Wednesday this week two days before Anaheim – I’ve broken my tib and fib and I’m going to have surgery on Tuesday then it should be about 6 - 8 weeks till I am back on a bike so hopefully I will catch the final round of the west coast series in Seattle.

MOTO: Man that’s a real bummer.
 RL: I was planning on racing all the west coast rounds but now from the crash that’s totally screwed that up, so I’m just trying to get back healthy as soon as possible.

MOTO: So made you go stateside?
 RL: In August 2006 I had the chance to go to California and stay and train with Stefan Elvin at MX Heaven, as these opportunities don’t come up often we sold all my bikes and motorhome and I left for California to train and go to college. I feel it was a great move but I have been held back with some injuries due to very small but costly mistakes. In November 2006 we planned on me racing the west coast AMA supercross but then at the end of that month I slid out in a corner and blew at my knee causing me to lose 9 months of riding time - From there on I got back on the bike trained my arse off and then just two days before the supercross in 2008 I broke my tib and fib causing me to miss out on the supercross again.

MOTO: Now that’s some bad luck you’ve had there, whats the difference between racing stateside than in the UK?
 RL: It’s hard to say how racing stateside is as I haven’t competed in many big races out here yet but being here is awesome. I can ride 4-5 days a week, and there’s so many tracks so close to the house I live at.

MOTO: Is it likely that the Richmeister will be making appearance back in the UK sometime?
 RL: I think I have answered that one above but hopefully you will be seeing me in one sx race at the end of the season.

MOTO: What was your New Year’s resolution?
 RL: My new year’s resolution now is to get back on a bike as quick as possible, train my arse off and come back stronger.

MOTO: Rich good luck with that mate and sorry to hear you’ve missed out again – chin up as they say.

Image by Anthony Sutton

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