Mitchener Signs Apparel Sponsor
Karting champion Lee Mitchener has joined forces with HORSPWR Apparel.
Horspwr CEO Ron Polonski noticed Mitchener’s international karting results in France last year and decided to offer Mitchener the opportunity to become an ambassador for his company.
Horspwr is looking for karters who present champion characteristics to add to their ‘Team Horspwr’ group of drivers.
“We want to create a network environment for drivers of all ages to help each other achieve their best while they build their racing careers” Polonski said.
“We search for racing drivers of both genders in the karting world from a very young age. These are young people at the top of their game, or starting out, and we support them by sponsorship.
"At the same time I am trying to create an environment that harbours growth and networking amongst other drivers. This is especially important for the very young drivers who look up to older drivers who have made it. The Team Horspwr idea is to create an environment that helps the younger kids learn from the older kids how to race and conduct themselves.”
About Lee Mitchener
Mitchener made his karting debut in 1997 at Humevale, Victoria, but saw his first gokart race when he was about 4 years old.
“I got my first go kart for Christmas when I was 13. Originally, I was going to play tennis, and Dad and I went out to buy a new tennis racquet. We stopped to have a look at a Go-Kart hire place and that night we started looking at go-karts in the newspaper” Mitchener explained.
The Australian champion’s first international success was in the 2007 Formula SAE European Championships at Silverstone. The Formula SAE competition is for Automotive Engineering students to conceive, design, fabricate, and compete with small formula-style racing cars. The restrictions on the car frame and engine are limited to challenge students’ knowledge, creativity, and imagination.
After completing his studies, Mitchener started his own engineering and fabrication business Leevertek Pty Ltd, in the Melbourne suburb of Greensborough.
To date, Mitchener’s biggest achievement was winning the Bruno Grana International Trophy, an event dedicated to the founder of IAME Engines, Sir Bruno Grana, at the Circuit International de Lavelanet in the south of France in 2010.
Mitchener, who is currently participating in the premier karting series, the CIK Stars of Karting, says he is “looking for a good result” when he competes at the Todd Road Circuit in Melbourne on June 18/19 before heading back to France to defend his world title the following weekend.
After coming close on numerous occasions, Mitchener claimed his first State Championship in February 2010 before going on to claim the National crown in the Leopard Heavy category in Perth, at Easter this year.
“After many years of trying it was great to finally win a state title and then a national title, but to beat the best overseas racing drivers was amazing. It’s also a great way to be rewarded for all of mine and my Dad’s hard work over the years.”
The Aussie champion went back-to-back at the recent national championships held in Perth, being the only defending champion to do so.
2011 has been good so far for 26 year-old, who finished second at the Victorian State titles, and currently leads the local ‘All Star Series’ held in Melbourne.
Mitchener says it feels surreal to beat the world’s best drivers for the first time and “also feels great when you are not only recognised by people in your own country but internationally, with people having to communicate with you via ‘Google Translate’.
