Ruthless Racing/ Deely Harley-Davidson’s Darren James had some tough luck at the AMA Pro Vance & Hince XR1200 series at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP this past weekend. The North Vancouver native was one of the Canadian favourites going into the weekend’s double header and $60,000 XR Showdown when a series of disaster’s took him out of contention.
The weekend got off to a rough start when James stretched a connecting rod on his XR1200 during Friday morning practice, with the motorcycle only making 75hp and the engine terminally damaged. As a result, James qualified in 16th place on Friday afternoon. With help from the Spykes Harley-Davidson team who loaned him a new bottom end, the Ruthless Racing/ Deeley Harley-Davidson crew was set to rebuild the badly damaged motorcycle in time to get James back on track Saturday morning.
James was confident going into the first of the weekend’s double header races on Saturday, after his crew worked until 3:30am the night prior to rebuild his motorcycle. Unfortunately, the weekend was not meant to be for the B.C. native, as he lost the front on the opening lap of the 5-lap race on Saturday afternoon, was struck by another rider and carried off the racetrack via ambulance, assessed with a broken tibia. This would mark the end of the weekend for James, taking him out of contention for Sunday’s 10-lap final.
According to his twitter feed, Darren is returning to Vancouver today and is expected to undergo surgery on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. James, who is currently second in the standings in the Mopar Canadian Superbike series, XR1200 class, hopes to recover in time to return to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport) for the final round and double-header in Bowmanville, Ontario this coming weekend.
American Kyle Wyman of KLR Group/ Spyke Harley-Davidson would go on to win race one of the AMA Pro Vance & Hines double header on Saturday, while Steve Crevier was the top placing Canadian in 5th place and Lee Kuhn Jr. finished in 16th position. Sunday’s 10-lap final would see Tyler O’Hara edge out Wyman for the top place on the podium, while Crevier finished in 7th place and Lee Kuhn Jr. rode home in 15th position.
Everyone at Inside Motorcycles wishes Darren James a speedy recovery and hope to see him at the Mopar CSBK final at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (formerly Mosport International Raceway) to contest the XR 1200 series this coming weekend.
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