Vancouver motorcycle racer killed in crash at Indy
The headline on his Facebook page proclaims him a 9X National Champion.
The bio underneath lists the 13-year-old motorcycle racer at 4-foot-11 inches and 81 pounds.
His bikes are listed prominently, all Hondas, including a 2009 Moriwaki MD250H.
Peter Lenz, who died in a crash Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was to be an eighth-grader at St. Joseph Catholic School, where the principal gathered her teachers Sunday afternoon to prepare for challenges today, the first day of school. Peter has two sisters, one in high school and the other at St. Joseph.
He was so good at racing motorcycles that his father, Michael Lenz, told The Columbian in January 2009, “He’s been compared to any number of pro riders at different stages of their careers.”
To develop his skills, Peter traveled to the California Superbike School for some of his training. There, he was coached by the school’s co-founder Keith Code, a respected motorcycle racing coach and author who has worked with many racing champions. In that story, Code said, “There are a lot of kids out there who are pretty good. Peter happens to be among the best who are out there — at least in North America.”
His website shows action shots of the racer with photo captions that say, “Peter sets the 125GP record at The Streets of Willow,” “Peter chats with Pitpass Radio,” and “Peter wins the Phoenix Moriwaki MD250H race and grows his championship lead.”
The icons of 24 sponsors are on that site, including Pro Caliber Motorsports of Vancouver.
Jerry Frank, a parts specialist at the business, on Sunday took time from his job to remember waiting on Peter and his dad.
“He had a crash last year and I remember him still coming in and being amped to get back riding,” Frank said. “He was just ready to go back and do it all over again. That’s really inspiring.
“It was a little bit of sunshine even though the gray sky was over his injury.
“His dad was great, always supporting his son. … Seemed like he was always ready to take Peter out to the next race.”
Peter and his father bought chains, sprockets, levers and more from the business, Frank remembered.
That accident is documented on the website in events from 2009.
It reads: “After the first two rounds, Peter was leading the USGPRU (United States Grand Prix Racers Union) West Coast 125GP and 250GP class championships. However, midseason Peter crashed into a tire wall at Portland International Raceway (PIR) on May 31, 2009, due to several mechanical failures. He suffered several broken bones, (tibia and fibula just above the boot line; a broken femur; and a broken humerus just above the elbow including a severed radial nerve) all requiring several surgeries.
“The accident effectively ended his 2009 season and his run at the USGPRU 125GP and 250GP motorcycle road racing national championships. He completely recovered by late November and immediately started training for next year.”
When Peter moved up from smaller bikes to the Honda RS 125 in November 2008, he told Columbian reporter Paul Danzer, “It was just ‘Whoa. I’ve got to really do this now. I really had to work. This is seriously what I want to be when I grow up.’”
