Tanel Leok

Tanel Leok
Leok at Glen Helen 2010.
Nationality	Estonian
Born	June 1, 1985 (age 30) Võru, Estonia
Motocross career
Years active	2000 – present
Teams	KTM, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha, TM, Husqvarna
Wins	3
GP debut	2001 GP da Holanda, 125cc
First GP win	2008 Irish GP, MX1

Tanel Leok (born June 1, 1985)^[1] is an Estonian professional motocross racer competing in the FIM Motocross World Championships in MX1 class.

Early life

Tanel was born in Võru, Estonia and currently resides in Balen, Belgium. His father, Arvo Leok, was a motocross rider and introduced his son to the sport at a young age. He lived in Estonia and attended Sõmerpalu Primary school until he was 16 years old when he decided to pursue his racing career full-time.

Career

Early career

He became the first rider with two junior world titles to his credit, winning the 85 cc FIM world cup in 2000 and the 125cc FIM Junior World Cup in 2001. He turned semi-professional midway through the 2001 season, and qualified for a number of GP races at 15 years of age. He claimed his first senior title in 2001 as well, being crowned German 125cc champion. His hard-charging and unmistakable racing style earned him the moniker "The Estonian Express."

2002–2003: KTM

In 2002 his first professional team was Vangani Racing KTM His teammates in this team were Tyla Rattray and Ben Townley. In 2003, the Vangani Racing team metamorphosed into Bruforce Racing, still on KTM motorcycles. Tanel had by now definitely broken through in the top level of motocross world.

2004: Suzuki

After a few successful races in the 125cc class in 2003, he successfully shifted to 250 cc class for the Motovision Racing Suzuki team in 2004. He made a huge impact during this season, being the only remaining top level rider on a two-stroke machine in the class. His reputation was solidified with a number of furious on-track battles with the hotshots of the class, such as multiple world champion Stefan Everts.

2005–2008: Kawasaki

Tanel Leok in June 2008

At the end of the 2004 season he signed a two-year contract with the Kawasaki factory team of legendary champion maker Jan De Groot. Leok claimed his first podium in FIM Motocross World Championships MX1 class on 2 April 2006 at Zolder, Belgium. This contract was renewed for another two-year term at the end of the 2006 racing season.^[2] After having claimed numerous GP podiums in the preceding year, Tanel Leok won his first MX1 Grand Prix in Ireland in 31, August 2008.^[3] He claimed 9 podiums and 1449 points with kawasaki team.

2009: Yamaha

Tanel Leok in June 2009

At the end of the 2008 Season, Red Bull Yamaha De Carli announced that they will move on to MX1-GP in the 2009 season and the riders will be Antonio Cairoli and Tanel Leok.^[4] The 2009 season started off well for the Estonian, winning the Italian MX1 motocross championships by a margin of 5 points over Cairoli (158–153).^[5] He won the first GP of the season in Faenza, Italy, and was the first holder of the red plate marking him as world championship leader.^[6] 2009 year was steady season for Leok, only 2 retirements: 1st race in Latvia and 2nd race in Brazil.

2010: Honda

Tanel signed with Honda on September 27, 2009 and in 2010 season he is in LS Motors Honda team, his teammate is Davide Guarneri.^[7] In his first season with LS Motors Honda team Tanel chose his "legendary" riding number 40, he started riding in MX1 class with this number in 2004. In addition he got his first personal driving trainer – Marnicq Bervoets, this is very important renewal for Leok. His first competition with Honda was on February 7, 2010 in the Mantua Starcross. He had good starts, placed 3rd in second race and 1st in third race, overall place was 6th, because he retired first race.^[8] Tanel Leok finished 2nd to Guarneri in Italian MX1 motocross championships. Leok lost the championship by 17 points (152–135). On May 16, 2010 Leok won the second race and was the overall winner in the Grand Prix of Catalunya.^[9]

2011: TM

In September 2010 Tanel signed with TM Racing Factory Team.^[10] His first competition with TM was on February 19–20, 2011 in Mantova Starcross. Leok finished second in all three races and were also second overally behind David Philippaerts.^[11] The 2011 season was poor season for Tanel, he had several crashes and technical problems with bike. The best moment of this season was holeshot win in the Grand Prix of Czech Republic and the worst moment was the crash in the Grand Prix of Great Britain.^[12]

2012: Suzuki

In October 2011 Tanel signed with Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MX1 team, this is Suzuki factory team. His teammate in 2012 season will be Clement Desalle.^[13] On February 5, 2012 Tanel Leok battled snow and icy conditions to race to second place overall against 1080 riders at Enduropale Du Touquet Beach Race in northern France, less than two minutes behind overall winner Jean-Claude Mousse.^[14] Leok best race in 2012 season was in Benelux GP where he got his only podium in this season.

2013: Honda and TM

In September 2012 Tanel signed for British motocross team Route77energy MVR-D Honda. His teammate in 2013 season was Jason Dougan.^[15] On 2 June, Tanel crashed heavily and broke his collarbone, causing him two miss two races. At the end of the month, Route77 Honda withdrew from the World Motocross Championship due to financial problems.^[16] Prior to the Swedish Grand Prix, Leok rejoined the TM Racing Factory Team.^[17]

2014: TM

In November 2013 Tanel re-signed for Italian motocross team TM Ricci Racing. His teammate in 2014 season was Davide Guarneri.^[18] TM Ricci Racing rider Tanel Leok hasn’t had the best of starts to the season. With a knee injury he picked up in the off-season.

2015: Kawasaki

The Estonian Express, Tanel Leok, has signed an agreement with the British-based LPE Kawasaki Team for next year. After a long time in the Grand Prix's, Leok will focus himself on the British MX1 Championship and the MX Nationals in Great Britain. Tanel had a good season racing the British Championship and finished second in the championship under the LPE Kawasaki.

2016: Husqvarna

Tanel Leok has once again inked a deal to join up with the MVR-D team for the third time in his career. His team clearly kept in good terms and Tanel will now be racing the British championship for them in 2016 – the team have decided to run Husqvarna’s in 2016 switching from the Honda machine.^[19]

Career summary

Tanel Leok celebrating win in 2010

Season	Series	Team Name	Final Placing
1994	Estonian Motocross Championship 60cc	MK Sinilind	3rd
1995	Estonian Motocross Championship 60cc	MK Sinilind	2nd
1996	Estonian Supercross Championship 80cc	Sõmerpalu MK	3rd
1997	Estonian Snowcross Championship 80cc	Sõmerpalu MK	2nd
	European Motocross Championship 80cc	Sõmerpalu MK	1st
	European Motocross Cup 80cc	Sõmerpalu MK	25th
1998	Estonian Snowcross Championship 80cc	Sõmerpalu MK	2nd
	Estonian Supercross Championship 80cc	Sõmerpalu MK	1st
	Estonian Motocross Championship 80cc	Sõmerpalu MK	1st
	European Motocross Championship 80cc	Sõmerpalu MK	33rd
1999	Estonian Snowcross Championship 80cc	Sõmerpalu MK	1st
	European Motocross Championship 85cc	Sõmerpalu MK	5th
2000	World Junior Motocross Championship 80cc	Privateer Honda	1st
	European Motocross Championship 80cc	Privateer Honda	7th
2001	World Junior Motocross Championship 125cc	Bodo Schmidt Racing KTM	1st
	German Championship 125cc	Bodo Schmidt Racing KTM	1st
	European Championship 125cc	Bodo Schmidt Racing KTM	6th
2002	World Championship 125cc	Vangani Racing KTM	10th
2003	World Championship 125cc	Vangani Racing/Bruforce KTM	15th
	European Championship 125cc	Vangani Racing/Bruforce KTM	10th
2004	World Championship MX1	Motovision Suzuki	6th
	British Championship MX1	Motivision Suzuki	3rd
	KWS British Champion MX1	Motivision Suzuki	1st
2005	World Championship MX1	Kawasaki Racing Team	11th
	Dutch Championship MX1	Kawasaki Racing Team	3rd
2006	World Championship MX1	Kawasaki Racing Team	5th
	Belgian Championship MX1	Kawasaki Racing Team	13th
	British Championship MX1	Kawasaki Racing Team	31st
2007	World Championship MX1	Kawasaki Racing Team	8th
	Dutch Championship MX1	Kawasaki Racing Team	1st
	Belgian Championship MX1	Kawasaki Racing Team	12th
	British Championship MX1	Kawasaki Racing Team	16th
2008	World Championship MX1	Kawasaki Racing Team	8th
	Belgian Championship MX1	Kawasaki Racing Team	13th
	Dutch Championship MX1	Kawasaki Racing Team	8th
	Estonian Championship MX1	Kawasaki Racing Team	1st
	Estonian Championship MX2	Kawasaki Racing Team	1st
2009	Italian Championship MX1	Yamaha Red Bull De Carli	1st
	Belgian Championship MX1	Yamaha Red Bull De Carli	9th
	World Championship MX1	Yamaha Red Bull De Carli	7th
2010	Italian Championship MX1	LS Honda	2nd
	Belgian Championship MX1	LS Honda	2nd
	Dutch Championship MX1	LS Honda	23rd
	World Championship MX1	LS Honda	6th
2011	Italian Championship MX1	TM Racing Factory Team	9th
	World Championship MX1	TM Racing Factory Team	12th
2012	Enduropale Du Touquet Beach Race	Rockstar Energy Suzuki	2nd
	Belgian Championship MX1	Rockstar Energy Suzuki	2nd
	Estonian Championship MX1	Rockstar Energy Suzuki	10th
	World Championship MX1	Rockstar Energy Suzuki	8th
2013	World Championship MX1	Route77 Energy Honda, TM Ricci Racing	14th
	Maxxis British Championship MX1	Route77 Energy Honda, TM Ricci Racing	6th
	Estonian Championship MX1	Route77 Energy Honda	11th
2014	World Championship MXGP	TM Ricci Racing	18th
	Estonian Championship MX1	TM Ricci Racing	2nd
	Baltic Championship MX1	TM Ricci Racing	6th
2015	MAXXIS ACU British Motocross Championship MX1	LPE Kawasaki	2nd
	MX Nationals in Great Britain ProX Pro MX1	LPE Kawasaki	16th
	World Championship MXGP	LPE Kawasaki	41st
	Estonian Championship MX1	LPE Kawasaki	3rd
2016	Italian Motocross Championship MX1	KTM	5th
	World Championship MXGP	Husqvarna, KTM	13th*
	MAXXIS ACU British Motocross Championship MX1	MVR-D Fuel10K Husqvarna	3rd*

* Season still in progress.

Complete World Championship Results

Year	Team	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos.	Points
2001	KTM	125cc	ESP	NED 21	AUS	BEL 29	GER 21	BEL	SWE	FRA	BEL	SUI	GER 17	NED 26	ITA	AUT 17						0
2002	KTM	125cc	NED	ESP 15	GER 6	FRA 28	ITA 28	AUT	BUL	SWE	BEL	GER 12	CZE 15	RUS 6							20th	51
2003	KTM	MX2	ESP 14	NED 14	EUR 22	ITA 26	BUL 14	AUT 17	SWE 12	BEL 13	NED 6	GER 15	CZE 11	FRA 21							15th	73
2004	Suzuki	MX1	FLA 8	ESP 9	POR 16	NED 11	GER 9	BEN 7	GBR 4	FRA 5	ITA 10	BEL 8	SWE 12	CZE 6	WAL 5	EUR 9	IRL 11	RSA 12			6th	356
2005	Kawasaki	MX1	FLA 11	ESP 25	POR	BEL 9	EUR 5	JAP 6	GBR 13	ITA 12	FRA 18	SWE 10	RSA 11	WAL 12	CZE 7	GER 5	ENG 16	NED 29	IRL 5		11th	299
2006	Kawasaki	MX1	FLA 3	ESP 2	POR 5	GER 3	JAP 5	BUL 5	ITA 4	GBR 5	SWE 12	RSA 4	CZE 7	BEL 14	IRL 9	NED 12	FRA 2				5th	443
2007	Kawasaki	MX1	BEN 11	ESP 7	POR 12	ITA 2	GER 12	JAP 14	FRA 5	BUL 11	SWE 3	ITA 9	CZE 4	BEL 3	IRL 29	GBR 6	NED 12				8th	355
2008	Kawasaki	MX1	NED 16	ESP 5	POR 9	BUL 11	ITA 8	GBR 5	FRA 9	GER 3	SWE 11	RSA 9	BEL 15	CZE 7	IRL 1	BEN 14	ITA 13				8th	352
2009	Yamaha	MX1	ITA 1	BUL 7	TUR 10	BEN 3	POR 6	CAT 10	GBR 5	FRA 4	GER 7	LAT 11	SWE 6	BEL 7	CZE 9	NED 4	BRA 14				7th	395
2010	Honda	MX1	BUL 14	LOM 12	NED 4	POR 6	CAT 1	USA 31	FRA 8	GER 10	LAT 8	SWE 12	LIM 5	CZE 3	BRA 8	BEN 6	ITA 15				6th	356
2011	TM	MX1	BUL 15	NED 9	USA 16	BRA 14	FRA 10	POR 9	ESP 6	SWE 18	GER 19	LAT 10	LIM 6	CZE 4	GBR 13	EUR 16	ITA 17				12th	267
2012	Suzuki	MX1	NED 9	BUL 11	ITA 10	MEX 5	BRA 14	FRA 15	POR 9	BEL 7	SWE 6	LAT 7	RUS 10	CZE 9	GBR 7	BEN 3	EUR 8	GER 13			8th	381
2013	Honda	MX1	QAT 14	THA 12	NED 8	ITA 16	BUL 15	POR 12	BRA 16	FRA	ITA										14th	232
	TM											SWE 13	LAT 18	FIN 19	GER 15	CZE 10	BEL 11	GBR 9	EUR 14
2014	TM	MXGP	QAT 13	THA 14	BRA 18	ITA 19	BUL 15	NED 9	ESP 18	GBR 16	FRA 15	ITA 13	GER	SWE 22	FIN 16	CZE 9	BEL 22	BRA	MEX		18th	146
2015	Kawasaki	MXGP	QAT	THA	ARG	ITA 23	EUR 19	ESP	GBR	FRA	ITA	GER	SWE	LAT 19	CZE	BEL 24	ITA	NED	MEX	USA	41st	15

* Season still in progress

Personal life

Leok married Karoliina Karu on 11 October 2008.^[20] They have two sons, Sebastian (born 3 December 2007)^[21] and Travis Leok (born 14 April 2010).^[22] His cousin Aigar Leok is also a motocross racer.

References

1. "Tanel Leok" From www.yamaha-racing.com, Retrieved July 1, 2009.
2. "Leok inks two year deal with kawasaki" From londonbikers.com, July 5, 2006. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
3. Tanel Leok won in Ireland From www.mxlarge.com, August 31, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2009.
4. "Tanel Leok Joins Yamaha Red Bull De Carli" From www.vitalmx.com, November 5, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2009.
5. 2009 Italian MX1 motocross championships Results From mxrealtime.com, March 15, 2009. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
6. "Tanel Leok wins at rain plagued faenza" From www.hyundai.eu, March 29, 2009. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
7. "Tanel Leok And His Move To LS Motors Honda" From mxlarge.com, September 29, 2009. Retrieved December 27, 2009.
8. Mantova 2010 Results From mxlarge.com, February 8, 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2010.
9. "Grand Prix of Catalunya – Musquin and Leok win in Spain" From mxlarge.com, May 16, 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
10. "Tanel Leok joins TM Racing Factory with high ambitions" From motocrossmx1.com, September 18, 2010. Retrieved October 2, 2010.
11. "LEOK GUIDES TM TO SECOND ON FIRST OUTING" From moto.mpora.com, February 23, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2010.
12. "Billy MacKenzie Tanel Leok Hard Crash - GP Of Great Britain - 21.08.2011 " From youtube.com, August 22, 2011. Retrieved September 12, 2011.
13. "Factory Suzuki for Tanel Leok in 2012" From moto.mpora.com, October 5, 2011. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
14. "Leok second in Le Touquet 2012" From mxlarge.com, February 5, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
15. "Tanel Leok back in the UK with Route77energy MVR-D Honda" From moto.mpora.com, 13 September 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
16. "Tanel Leok murdis Briti motokrossi etapil rangluu" From postimees.ee, 4 June 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
17. "Tanel Leok oli sunnitud hooaja keskel tiimi vahetama" From sport.err.ee, 29 June 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
18. "Leok stays and Guarneri joins him at TM Ricci Racing" From moto.mpora.com, 11 November 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
19. "Tanel Leok signs with MVR-D Husqvarna" From gatedrop.com, 1 November 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
20. "Motokrossisõitja Tanel Leok abiellus" From www.elu24.ee, October 15, 2008. Retrieved July 27, 2009.
21. "Tanel Leok sai isaks" From www.tanelleok.com, Retrieved July 27, 2009.
22. "New baby boy for Tanel Leok" From moto.mpora.com, Retrieved April 17, 2010.

External links

• Tanel Leok – Official site
• Tanel Leok Profile – Official Team site