Dave Leach, Four Time Isle of Mann TT Winner

Dave Leach with the famous Yellow with Red Polka Dot Helmet!

  

On my first trip to the Isle of Man in 1990, I met Dave Leach, a racer riding for FM Yamaha and shod with Avon tires.  He was a three time TT winner, with his first race win in 1988 on a Padgetts FZ1000 0W01. In 1990 he was riding a FZR400 RRSP, which is kind of a baby 0W01.

Standing at the starting line I was talking to Dave and told him we did not have that Yamaha in the States. He said to me “You can buy this one in about an hour and a half”. So during the entire race I was thinking “do I really want to buy this thing?” I didn’t think I could get a license for it in the States; I don’t race and I cannot afford to buy it and just put it in my garage. After the race, which Dave had won (his Fourth win); he asked if I wanted it.  I said no.  I guess some guy from Japan bought it and had them crate it up, with the bugs still all over the front of it and send it to Japan.  Dave also took a 3^rd in the Senior Class, a 5^th in Formula 1, and 10^th in the Junior Race.  Unfortunately his bike broke down while leading the Supersport 600 race.  But that’s just racing!

Later he asked if I wanted to go to the awards banquet, and since I had a ticket and he had won I thought it might be cool. We show up and Dave says we should sit in the back.  In my mind I’m thinking ‘you’re one of the heroes, we should be up front’.  After we sat down they start by saying “Finishing 20^th in the 125cc class is…” With that we left and snuck down to the bar for about an hour, and then came back to get his trophy. 

IOM TT Trophy

I might add they are one of the classiest trophies around.

The next year Dave came to us to race a 750 at the Daytona 200.  It’s my turn to show him around.  I took him to the short track races, to which he thoroughly enjoyed. While we were at the stadium we ran into some of the staff from the Speedway.  They invited us up to the top level, where the announcer sits.  They interview Dave during one of the breaks and asked him if he liked dirt track to which he responded that he would give it a go if they had it in the UK, as it looked like fun!  Then they asked him about racing at the Speedway. He said “It is a little scary going 170mph right next to the wall.”  Now I am thinking to myself, here is a guy that rides 100 mph on very narrow country roads with light poles, houses, and stone walls everywhere, and he thinks Daytona is “a little scary”. 

The terrible part of this story is in 1992 Dave was racing at an Irish road race and crashed in the rain.  He came off the bike and ended up straddling a tree at probably 60mph (ouch!). It almost killed him.  But it did shorten him by I think he said a little over a ½ inch. Two years later he was at Daytona getting around with two canes and informed me all the ‘important parts’ worked fine.  

In 1995 he made a return to racing the Isle of Mann TT, which at the end of the 1997 season (after sitting out 1996) he hung up his leathers for good.  Here’s a video link of Dave in Practice in Ireland in 1995 (watch for that helmet!!)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuDMYUUqB0s

I guess scary is a relative term.  

Dave Leach at IOM Parade of Champions