Darren Thomas, a Fleet (Hampshire) based motorcycle road racer has just joined
MAG Sport.

Darren started road racing in 1995 on an RGV250 with the BEMSEE club in Kent. The decision to move from the road and onto the track was helped by a major road accident which left Darren with a 15% chance of survival. After this narrow escape he decided that to ride to the max was no longer an option on the road, so track racing he went.

In his first ever meeting, Darren went on to win his first novice race and then secure two 2nd's in his first meeting at Lydden Hill, hence he was immediately bitten by the 'Racing bug' and needed more adrenaline rushes like that. After his first year he was runner up in two championship's (only beaten by 600cc bikes) and 3rd in another.

Not wishing to remain static he then competed in the experienced Formula Junior races in 1996, securing both hotly contested championships, with a race speed record at Lydden Hill and a lap record at Croix in France with 18 win's to his credit in this year.

 In 1997 he took the plunge into the British 250GP Championship on board a 1994 Honda RS250. "This was a baptism of fire. I had watched numerous British Championship races and figured I could kick ass, but I was in for a huge shock and decided that to qualify for every round would be my goal for this year. The bikes were so much faster than my standard bike and when I was hitting the brakes, they were still flat on the tank."

In 1997 a best finish of 18th was achieved, but the season ended early for Darren at Cadwell Park when he was hit by another competitor entering the Goosneck and ended up sliding into a tyre wall at high speed. Darren sustained broken ribs, punctured lung, broken collar bone and a fractured neck, plus huge bruising which took months to heal.

This accident almost made Darren throw the towel in as the injuries took months to heal and the physio sessions were extremely painful, however once recovery was in sight and the memory had faded a little (Guiness is good for that), he was determined to have another go.

In 1998 he competed again on the standard bike, but although his lap times were improving, the sponsored teams bikes were in another league and despite riding the wheels off his bike at every round Darren netted his best result of 16th at Cadwell Park, although he was now consistently in the top 20 which was a huge improvement.

 Over the 'silly season' (winter) Darren sat down with his father and they discussed (well begged actually) the purchase of a new 1999 Honda. This was a huge financial layout for Darren at £ 12,500, however he was no longer prepared to put his life on the line with an uncompetitive bike and knew he was capable of better results on the right machine.

 The bike arrived just before the start of the season and he managed one afternoon session at Mallory to test it. At the first round at Brands Hatch he instantly went faster. This followed on at every track making 1999 a huge success. The team regularly scored points and the lap times were up to 5s a lap faster than the previous year which was a huge improvement.

 The best result of the year was 10th at Silverstone, despite qualifying in 18th position and racing with a broken rib sustained in a qualifying crash.

 Over the winter the team desperately seeked a sponsor as they had been totally self-funded which was slowly pushing them further into debt and to carry on would be financial suicide.

 Our prayers were answered by 3 Chem Distribution who offer to supply a van and pay some bills for the year which was a massive sigh of relief by all, including the bank manager. The begging bowls were put away for another year and they concentrated on getting the bike to go faster with better suspension.

 A new team member 'Steve' came on board as a volunteer mechanic which would lighten the load from Darren, who had been responsible for everything on the race weekends, apart from cooking which was taken care of by his girlfriend, Penny.

The 2000 season has been the best yet. The gap to pole position has been negligible considering the standard nature of the bike and the team even had a front row start at Oulton Park, missing out Pole position by 6 hundredths of a second to Gary Haslam. Superstar, John McGuiness was behind on row two.

The team scored a best finish of 7th at Donington Park and were regularly in the Top 15 scoring points to finish 19th in the championship overall. Looking down the championship order he would have been 2nd in the standard Honda category (ie. Non TSR Chassied or non-kitted machinery). Darren had also taken time out to compete in the MRO Championship at Mallory Park, where he qualified 7th (despite being forced off the track at 90+mph exiting Gerrad's and hitting the deck in free practice) and went on to a convincing win, proving that amongst similar machinery he has the ability to win and to lead from the front (may have seen this on SKY Sports 2 - Moto+). He also set the fastest lap time of the day out of all the classes.

What about 2001?

 Well, Darren has been promised some engine parts from 3 Chem Distribution which will make the bike more competitive. He is very confident of surprising a few more big teams in 2001 and hopes that a front row start may not just be a 'one off'. The begging bowls have been dusted off and are out to try and attract more sponsors who can help out with the general running costs for the year, especially as BSB want £ 2050.00 up front at the time of registration to the British Championship in 2001.
Report at Costly to Race

You can follow their progress throughout the year via their popular Race Reports on the web site at: www.darrenthomasracing.co.uk

"Hope you all have a great Christmas break and look forward to meeting a few of you next year at the track."

Best Wishes, Darren Thomas