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Lee Jr. was born on the 8th of October 1987, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
and is the only son
of gear head father Lee Sr. and mom Dianna. Lee was exposed to motorsports right from day one after
leaving the hospital,
tagging along with dad to his road races and drag races, then taking his first
motorcycle
ride on the gas tank of his dad’s Harley at the age of 8 months.
Most kids would cry when they heard the rumble
and scream of race engines,
but Lee only cried when they were turned off. Calming him down, meant
driving
around the block in dad's car until he went to sleep.
Lee’s first set of wheels was an electric ATC at the age of 2 and he would ride
it non-stop until the batteries were dead, over and over. Soon after, his passion
switched to BMX bikes, which he
had seen pictures of his dad racing on, and
many jumps, skinned knees and elbows were to follow. All along, Lee spent
time with mom, dad and little sister Kandice, at bike shows, rallies and races,
car shows, monster truck shows
or at the drag strip watching dad race or
sometimes wrench, as a crewman on a couple of different cars over the years.
Being brought up in this environment had infused race fuel into Lee’s blood.
The itch to race finally became strong enough, that at the age of thirteen, he
convinced
his grandma Gloria to buy him a 4-stroke Honda race go-kart. Many
nights and weekends were spent with team manager “Grandma”
and Grandpa
Dave, at home track Cameron Motorsports or at several other kart tracks around
Ontario. From the start,
Lee was a front runner and after two years in club
karting, he was asked to join the Cameron Motorsports, Biesse Factory
team.
This brought a 95mph, 2 stroke Rotax and a 125 shifter kart into Grandma’s trailer. The transition was seamless and Lee again found himself at or near the front of the pack, over two seasons on the Factory Team.
Lee Jr., Biesse Canada Factory Team
Grandpa Dave, Lee Jr., Grandma Gloria
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| Lee Jr, In centre with sunglasses and red helmet |
While packing the kart away at the end of summer, 2002, Lee spotted a mini
moto in a motorcycle magazine and convinced Dad to find one. This was easier
said than done as they were almost
unheard of in Canada at the time. Looking
for one mini moto brought a container of 320 bikes into Dad’s newly
formed
business, LKR Pocketbikes and Big Boy Toys. Immediately, others were found
with bikes and racing began
at the Hamilton Indoor Indy that fall.
Only one month after chasing around much more experienced
riders, the light
bulb went on in Lee’s head and he leapt past the entire field. It wasn’t a matter
of whether or not he would win, but a question of how much he would lower
the track record by, race after race. Lee
had found his calling. Two wheels
became his passion and karting gave way to nine Mini Moto Championships
over
the next five years.
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| Lee Jr. far left. Hamiilton Indoor Indy - 2003 |
This fast forwards Lee to 2007, where he not only won another Expert
Mini
Moto Championship, but found his true love, GP Bikes sponsored, Honda
motocross and Artic Cat snowcross racer,
Christie Chorley. This gave Lee
some exposure to motocross racing and he ran in a few races in 2007 to get
the
feel of big bike power. Christie in turn, tried her hand at mini moto racing
and won the OMMRA Amateur Air Mini Moto
Championship in her first season. For 2008, Lee landed a factory
minimoto sponsorship from DM Telai, Italy and also
raced the full, Parts Canada Superbike - Honda CBR125R National Challenge series. He was again dominant in all his minimoto races across Canada and the US, finishing on the podium at all races. In the CBR125R Challenge, Lee made the podium in the first practice race, was on the podium in 4 of the 5 races that followed, was the #1 qualifier and set a new CBR125R National lap record at the final race of the season and finished the season #2 in the championship standings.
To date Lee Jr. has been featured in or on: - TSN, 2008 Parts Canada Superbike coverage
- Discovery Channels "Daily Planet" with Shannon Bentley
- Speed Vision's "USA Monster Jam"
- Various TV stations, news papers
and magazines across North America.
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