Team DSR started life back in 1995 where
the rider, Darren Jones competed in his first season of racing
aboard his privately owned 1983 Yamaha RD 350. Darren contested
the New Era Club's 350 Production championship and started the
season well running 2nd in the championship. In fact, Darren
finished 2nd at his first ever meeting. At the end of the year,
he was a respectable 3rd in the championship despite having to
learn every circuit.
With a full season’s experience under
his belt, Darren went on to contest the same championship aboard
the same bike, his target was to win the title. The season
started well and he managed his first ever win in the opening
round at Brands Hatch. From here, he got quicker and continued
winning races and setting fastest laps. At Cadwell Park, Darren
won a race by an amazing 12 seconds. His competition licence was
soon upgraded to a National licence and with 38 consecutive wins,
Darren won the championship with 4 rounds remaining, the earliest
a championship had ever been settled. With so many wins, Darren
was crowned the Champion of Champions. At Croft Autodrome, Darren
decided to enter a Formula 400 race on his ageing Yamaha. The
machines he was up against were state of the art technology and
are far superior to Darren's bike. Despite this, with his
knowledge of the circuit, Darren managed to finish 7th and
certainly proved a point to the Formula 400 riders.
Winning a title may be difficult, but
defending it is something completely different. 1997 saw the
arrival of tougher competition and a new member of the team.
Steve Humphrey joined Team DSR as chief mechanic and has been a
major part of racing activities ever since. Darren welcomed the
new competition (and mechanic) and excelled himself by lapping
quicker at most circuits over the year adding to his number of
lap records. Darren went on to win the 350 Production
Championship for the 2nd year in succession, the only rider to
have won consecutive titles in this class. At the end of the
year, Darren entered a 1300 open race on his 350 Yamaha at
Mallory Park. No-one (including himself) expected him to qualify,
but against the odds he managed to qualify 11th against bikes 100
BHp more powerful.
This was to prove a major turning point in
Darren’s racing career. Defending his title for the 3rd
year, Darren meant business and he looked stronger than ever
before. After only 5 rounds, Darren had a huge lead in the 350
Production championship. His winning ways soon attracted the
attention of Steve Bastable of Speedaway Motorcycles who wasted
no time in providing the team with a brand new Aprilia RS250 to
contest the national one make series. All but 1 of the circuits
were new to Darren, so not only was he learning a new bike
against the toughest competition, he was also learning his way
round new circuits. In the meantime, Darren led the 350
Production championship for most of the season and despite
completing only 5 rounds out of 15, he finished 4th in the
championship.
With half a season’s National
experience behind him, Darren continued to compete in the
National Aprilia RS250 Challenge, the series attracting the
attention of more professional racers from world level. Speedaway
Motorcycles were so impressed with Darren’s commitment and
his rate of progress, they supplied the team with another new
machine. They were not to be disappointed and Darren went on to
become a regular points-scorer, with a season best result of 11th
place.
The year 2000 saw Darren to break into the
top 10 at National level motorcycle road racing. He broke his
personal best lap times at all but 1 of the circuits this season.
A big change was planned for 2001, a change so drastic that Darren's critics had predicted a disastrous start to the season. The plan was to switch classes and move up from the small 2 strokes which had been a strong presence in Darren's racing career. January saw the delivery of a brand new Aprilia RSV 1000 R to race in the National Aprilia RSV Challenge. The decision to swap to a 4 stroke was a brave one but Darren wasn't quite ready for the real shock in store. The torque of the engine coupled with the immense engine braking forced Darren to change his style which traditionally suited lighter 2 stroke machinery. No-one could have expected a 4th place finish at the opening round, but this was exactly what he did. Darren ran 5th in the championship for most of the season, never failing to finish in the top 10 all season. 2001 proved to be the most enjoyable season of all and with a season's experience behind him on the big twin; Darren plans to return to the series with the same bike.
A combination of speed and consistency saw Darren running 3rd in the National Aprilia RSV 1000 Championship for the biggest part of the season. It became apparent from the opening round that he meant business and that he'd masterered the art of racing a big V twin. In fact, Darren proved to be the most consistent rider in the entire series, and became the only rider to finish every race all season in the points. His lowest position in the National series was an impressive 6th, with 3 visits to the podium. In both wet and dry conditions, Darren always brought the bike home with good points. His 100% score ratio is something to be proud of. As a familiarisation excercise, Team DSR also entered 3 New Era SuperClub races against faster machines wearing slick tyres. Despite the odds, and poor grid positions, Darren went on to win all these races. This was the first season Darren had acheived a race win since turning to National level racing 4 years ago. At the annual prize giving cermomny, Darren was awarded the trophy for the most improved rider of the year by Jeremy McWilliams.
The results say it all as 2003 proved to be Darren's most successful season to date in the National Aprilia RSV 1000 Challenge. Not only did he finish on the National podium 6 times (a 50% ratio) but he finally climbed onto the top step, not once, but twice. Darren will be the first to admit that he never thought he'd win a National race but he proved himself with a double win at Lydden, his worst circuit of the year. With the TV cameras in his face, these wins didn't do his publicity any harm at all. Regularly winning both club races on the day prior to the National meetings helped Darrens' confidence and despite missing 10 club races (where they didn't coincide with the National championship) these wins put him 2nd in the club series, only 30 points from winning it! Darren's 11 wins in 2003 increased his total to 96.
The lead up to the 2004 championship was a difficult one. Being tipped as championship favourite, Darren decided to acquire the latest model of Aprilia RSV 1000 in a bid to make his dream come true. This would be the first time ever that Darren had raced the latest equipment in any race series. Unfortunately the bike only arrived 4 weeks before the opening round. The pressure was on to run the engine in and make the bike race-ready in time. Bad weather hampered pre-season testing and Darren saw himself enter the first round with only 3 laps experience on the new bike. Luckily he need not have worried as he won the first 2 races of the year. In fact Darren won more races than any of his competitors in 2004 and also finished on the podium in 90% of the races. Un un-fair double points system at the final round almost cost Darren the championship as he fell on the opening lap of the final race. His determination to be crowned as champion showed through as he remounted the bike, un-lapped himself and secured enough points to be crowned National Champion. Darren was the only rider in the entire series to finish every race in the points.
Darren had always planned to retire from the sport while the going was still good and the difficult decision was taken at the end of the season. He'd met all his personal goals and was happy with what he'd achieved. Not many riders can claim to have won over 100 races, 2 club championships and 1 National Championship.
Darren was strong and stuck with his decision. He took to the track a few times riding at track days and instructing at Donington Park for the Honda Ron Haslam Race School but couldn't resist the offer of riding an R1 at the Snetterton 8 hour endurance race for Sabre Sport. Despite losing 30 minutes with a clutch problem, the Team finished in 15th place.
Darren was approached by Hottrax to design, create and run a TrackDay Training School which became known as the Hottrax Academy. This allowed Darren to frequently take to the track at their trackdays as Chief Instructor. In addition to this, Darren continued to instruct for the Honda Ron Haslam Race School at Donington Park. As in the previous year, Darren competed in the annual 8 hour race at Snetterton, this time on his own Aprilia Mille. Despite qualifying over 3 seconds a lap faster than the nearest competitor, technical problems meant that the team finished down in 5th place. However, Darren's competitive edge was still there and lapped the circuit quicker than he had done during his championship year.
· 2007
Commitments to the Honda Ron Haslam Race School and the Hottrax Academy continued for 2007 but in addition, Darren was frequently booked for 1:1 coaching at many Hottrax TrackDays. Moores Racing also approached Darren to race their Yamaha R6 at the Pembrey 6 hour Endurance race where the team won the 600 class.