No Expiry Date On Speed or Talent

At 52-years-old Leanne Nelson is one of Australia’s Fastest Superbike Riders

Leanne recently made a remarkable debut in the top-tier Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), entering the second round of the series at the Sydney Motorsport Park night meeting. It was the opportunity Leanne had been working towards for decades: to not only measure herself against the country's best riders but also to learn from the experience and take her riding to the next level. We caught up with Leanne to learn more about her amazing motorcycling journey.

"I didn't start riding until I was 18," she reveals immediately. "I started riding because I got tired of being doubled, and I wanted to be the one in control. However, when I started riding, I kept being told I wouldn't be able to do it. Even guys I knew who owned motorbikes would not ride with me, so I just went alone."

Refusing to be deterred, Leanne delved into rider training courses, where she found camaraderie among fellow riders and racers, igniting her interest in track days. Despite her passion for the sport, it was a bumpy ride. "I was terrified when I did my first track day," she reveals. "It scared me so much that I didn't return for two years. I just found the whole thing too intimidating."

When Leanne finally returned to the track, a classic high-side broke her collarbone and wrecked her bike. Once again, she dusted herself off, purchased a 250cc machine and went production racing - a booming category during the 1990s. "That was my first crack at racing, and I did it for four years," she explains. "Once I was off and running, I picked it up pretty quickly and made it to A-grade level, but looking back now, I realise how much harder it was because I didn't have the knowledge to do it correctly, and I didn't have the people around me that had the knowledge to share. I hadn't grown up in a motorcycling family; I had no one guiding me, and that's why I'm so passionate today about helping as many women as I can with rider training and getting out on track. I want to share what I have learned to make navigating the pathway easier."

Life intervened in 1998, and Leanne walked away from motorcycles entirely to focus on other aspects of her life. However, fate had other plans for her racing aspirations, and after a hiatus of 12 years, she met her husband-to-be, Rob, who shared a keen interest in motorcycles. "I guess I never lost the desire to ride a motorbike; I just needed that passion to reignite, and that's what happened when I met Rob in 2010," Leanne reveals. "Within two weeks of meeting him, I went out and purchased a new road bike. Rob was just starting with track riding, and it didn't take long for him to convince me to get back on track. I had an old 400 in a mate's shed that had been sitting around for years, so I pulled that out and did a track day on it. I crashed it, and then the engine blew up, but I knew I was back."

When Rob revealed his ambitions to go racing, Leanne was happy to help out as pit crew, but it didn’t take long for the bug to bite. "I decided to have a crack at post-classic racing on a 125GP bike and that seemed to satisfy the itch, until 2020 when I decided to give modern racing a go, first with a 600cc bike and then a full-blooded 1000cc superbike, then I was really hooked."

While Leanne was enjoying her racing more than ever, there was a constant niggle that she was being held back. Was it the bike, or was it her age, beginning to nibble away at her ability? That question was answered at the end of 2023 when fellow competitors' constant praise of Yamaha's YZF-R1 convinced Leanne to upgrade and answer the question once and for all. "As soon as I rode the YZF-R1, I knew it had been the bike; I connected with the Yamaha instantly," she reveals. "Pretty much straight away, I was rolling off personal best times. A funny thing: I always said I would retire if I could do a 1:34 lap of SMSP because it's something I had been chasing for a while. When I got on the R1, it just happened, so instead of hanging up my helmet on a high, it made me want to push even more. With the help of my awesome pit crew, Tom and Dan Harrison, as well as husband Rob, I feel like I'm riding better than ever. I feel like I have much more in me, and I'm sure I can go quicker."

With support from MotoCity and West Sliders, Leanne contested the St George summer series, finishing runner-up in the F2 class. However, those around her knew there was a bigger challenge calling - the Australian Superbike Championship.

"Originally, I wasn't going to do the Sydney round of the ASBK because I'd pretty much run out of money after the St George series," Leanne reveals. "But once I started consistently running 1:34 lap times, Tom pointed out that I'm the quickest female superbike racer in Australia, and ASBK is something I really should do - it was the logical next step." Leanne put the call out for a little extra financial assistance, and thanks to Troy Corser Race School, Sydney Community Motorcycle Group. Verve Inspirations, Golf On Wheels, and RA Draper Medical Services she was able to line up on the grid for the second round of Australia's premier racing series.

While her qualifying time of 1:34.7 proved she had the pace, a broken battery terminal during Race 1 sidelined her for the evening. Such a small thing had brought an early end to a promising debut. Despite the disappointment, Leanne reflected on the experience with her usual optimism. "It was great to be able to measure myself against the best riders in the country. The goal was to enjoy the moment, kick some goals, and set some new goals, and that's what I did."

Leanne has already pinpointed a couple of areas of her riding she will now concentrate on. The new goal is a 1:33 second lap and another crack at the fastest superbike riders in the country.