Sean Leonard, kitchen porter at Portrane Hospital and road racer
Your bikes? I have a Honda 250 ex-grand prix bike, a new 125cc from Evans Mechanical services for this season's road races, and hopefully I'll be riding a 250cc in the classic races.
How did you become a road racer? I've been racing for over 20 years now. I was brought to the races as a young fella and it developed from there. I had a Kawasaki road bike in 1982 and when I came to sell it a guy offered to exchange it for a racing bike - a Yamaha 350, so I agreed and raced it around the track at Mondello. Then I took up road racing as a hobby in 1985. It's a great way to meet people and travel, I've been all over Europe and New Zealand and I've done the short circuit in the UK. I've been doing it so long now that I don't know anything else and I wouldn't like to give it up.
Do you think road racing is a dying sport? No, I think it's becoming very strong in the south of the country. It's getting bigger and there is more money involved. It's also becoming more professional and safer and I think it's just going to grow and grow. Road racing gets a lot of negative publicity, especially when a road racer gets killed. It's a high-risk sport but we do it for the sheer love of it.
Have you had any accidents during your career? I had a bad one at the Isle of Man TT three years ago at the bungalow. I broke my collarbone and ribs, but I think I got away lucky. I also had a bad crash at Kells and suffered head injuries. I had bad concussion and it took me a good while to get over it. Crashing never puts me off road racing though. After that accident at Kells it took me about two or three race meetings before I could get the demons out of my head, but it's part of my life and I wouldn't give it up. Besides, you don't think dying will ever happen to you and you can't keep thinking about things like that anyway because your head would be wrecked.
How do you manage to get the sponsorship to race every year? I put everything I have into road racing and I seem to get by all the time. John O'Grady of Joc Tuning sponsors me and he sets up the bikes before a race meeting. NGK supply my spark plugs and I have a supporters club who organise raffles and quizzes to raise money. It is expensive, racing fuel is expensive and it costs €120 to €140 in entry fees for every race meeting. My insurance is also high. Sponsors come and go but people are very decent and they might come up to you during a race and hand you €50 to keep you going. People will help you out just because they want to and it usually costs them to come to a meeting, they're not getting anything out of it. The devotion to the sport is brilliant.
Who is your racing hero? I've been around a long time and I've raced with Joey Dunlop and know all the racers and they're all heroes as far as I'm concerned.
What are your hopes for the future? I'd love to go back to Belgium to race and I'd like to get a top three place and win the 250 Irish Championships and the classics.