Darren James earned a ninth-place finish at Saturday’s Daytona 200.
The 76th running of the Daytona 200 saw Danny Eslick win, in a triumphant return after last year’s last-minute disqualification over an off-track incident. This year’s win is Eslick’s third, and came aboard a Yamaha R6.
But back to our Canadian content! To many, James (seen above with his biggest fans) might have been a long shot at a top 10, as he didn’t see much action in Canadian Superbike last year. But, the doubters should have instead checked out his Isle of Man results, where James managed 27th in the Lightweight class, after qualifying 49th. That’s not the front row, but that is a very respectable march up the ranks, especially considering the caliber of competition.
As you can see in the video above, James reckons this will be his last Daytona 200, as he’s planning to buckle down in the future and put in long hours at Vancouver’s Fred Deeley Harley-Davidson dealership, which James just purchased from his father.
James also rode a Yamaha R6; the Yammie appeared to be the favoured ride among the fast guys at Daytona, with seven of the top 10 finishers aboard an R6 . See the top-10 finishers list below.
1. Danny Eslick (Yamaha),
2. Michael Barnes (Yamaha)
3. Kyle Wyman (Suzuki)
4. Shane Narbonne (Yamaha)
5. Valentin Debise (Suzuki)
6. Kaleb De Keyrel (Yamaha)
7. Jason Farrell (Kawasaki)
8. Geoff May (Yamaha)
9. Darren James (Yamaha)
10. Bostjan Skubic (Yamaha)
