adminCaroline Magenga Sports Reporter
AT first glance, Leslie Carlsson looks more like a motor mechanic. But he is more than that. The 34-year-old is fast becoming one of the most talked about racers in the country after he recently broke his own motorcycling record twice at Donnybrook in Harare.
Born and bred in Gweru, Carlsson was always passionate about racing although he never dreamed of doing it professionally.
“My dad owned a dirty bike. So I grew up around bikes and developed a passion for them from a tender age but it wasn’t anything I thought I could do on a professional level.
“The schools I attended also did not offer any facilities for motorcycling and it was costly for my parents to involve me with motor racing so my passion remained a childhood dream that I thought would ever come through.
“I later moved to Harare and bought myself a bike – a Suzuki GSXR 1000 – which I practiced on occasionally but as a pastime.
“I just didn’t think I was good enough to race with professional riders so it was just a hobby.”
Carlsson only had his first serious flirtation with the addictive sport two years ago after he was invited to participate in an Open main circuit race by his brother.
“My brother Derral invited me to an Open circuit race that was held at Donnybrook that was opened to the general public and I signed up just for the fun of it.
“The race itself was challenging because there were a lot of professional racers. It was a difficult one but I managed to shock everyone including myself by coming second.”
It was also during this race that Carlsson was spotted by Temba Mazvimbakupa, who is a media and public relations officer at the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation.
“He immediately caught my eye as he was racing and I could tell he had potential to really go far with the right kind of mentorship
“I was even more shocked by the fact that he had never raced professionally before and had only been training for two years.
“Carlsson is natural on the bike and so we invited him to work with us at Donnybrook because we could see he was not only passionate but really talented as well,” said Mazvimbakupa.
From that time Carlsson started practicing at Donnybrook under the supervision of several seasoned riders but even then things were not smooth sailing.
“It was like I was taking two steps forward and then five steps back such that at some point I would even contemplate quitting but my brother always motivated me against the odds to persevere.
“On one hand I was following my passion and performing very well but on the other hand I was now struggling to meet the high costs needed to maintain the bike and race.
“It became so bad that I had to abandon a race midway last month in Bulawayo after the engine failed.
“I tried to fix it but I failed to and I was just about to throw in the towel and then, from nowhere, I was approached by Transerv Zimbabwe who had been impressed by my racing and they offered to be my sponsors.
“I was overwhelmed and up to now I am so grateful to them because their timely intervention saved my career in motor racing.”
Online Reporter