Darren Luck lives up to his name. One glance at his results this season racing with CCS's Florida region, and you'd think he must have been graced with supreme luck. His 2006 season statistics look like they should be someone's career stats: 36 total podium finishes so far in 2006, with 27 of those being first place finishes. Another thing to consider is that all of those top finishes were on his LeoVince-equipped Suzuki GSX-R 600. Luck runs that 600 up against bikes with almost twice as much motor and tons more horsepower-and wins! How does he do it? Well, obviously he has skill, he's got a LeoVince exhaust on his GSX-R and, well... Darren's got luck.

QUESTION: When and why did you start racing?

ANSWER: My very first weekend racing was in December of 2000. It was actually my first time ever on the track. I was doing Eric Wood's Penguin Roadracing School that weekend and Eric said if we wanted to start racing after the track day and completing the school that we could do it the next day for $50 and get our CCS license. I just had to do it and I almost won. I raced with stock everything, didn't even know how to adjust suspension, and only had one trackday's worth of experience. But I was moving! I entered three races and led all three, but lost right at the checkered flag to a guy with more horsepower.

Q: When did you start winning?

A: From day one. In 2001, my first real amateur CCS weekend, I won over half the races I entered. My third weekend out, I won most of them. Then I retired my 1996 GSX-R750 and bought a new GSX-R600. I beat them all on the 600.

Q: Do you feel like you have to race because you're good?

A: Being good is a curse. It's an addiction, better than any drug. I had a choice in 2000. I won two state full-contact Tae Kwon Do championships back-to-back. I wanted to start getting back into martial arts, but the passion for roadracing was just so incredible. I looked at it and said it could have gone either way, but I chose racing. My dad said, "Why couldn't you have been good at golf? Or bowling?"

Q: How did your relationship with LeoVince come about?

A: In 2001 I was hired by Prieto racing. Sean Prieto was then the current CCS Florida champ, and he and his brother Shane brought me on to be the new young gun on the team. We started doing suspension upgrades and actually getting the bike dialed in, I really started to actually learn the bike. My first expert year, the first race weekend with Prieto, everybody expected top 10, but I finished on the box almost every single race I entered.

LeoVince set up a sponsorship offer with Sean Preito. This was before LeoVince USA had begun, so they sent the contract in the box with the pipes straight from Italy. When they arrived, the team asked me to test the pipes, but apparently Italy got mad about that. They were not happy with Sean when they found out the exhaust got put on my bike. When I got the box and found the sponsorship form inside, I filled it out and sent it back. No one told me I wasn't supposed to. I really believe now that it was meant to happen the way it did. The team ended up asking me for the pipes back, but I had sent in the contract. I said, "No way, I'm keeping the exhausts on my bike!" I ended up finishing the season in 2002 winning the championship with the LeoVince pipes on my bike.

I was actually the first guy in America to win a championship on LeoVince pipes. Now half the grid or more is on LeoVince pipes. I want to be on the LeoVince 'cause it's fast! I had another aftermarket exhaust on my bike before, but when I switched it out and tuned it, the LeoVince pipe just felt better. There was something about it‹it made a different noise, people noticed it, it made more HP on the dyno, it really helped me go faster. It wasn't long before people saw that I'm winning and I'm on LeoVince. I'm sure they thought, "Maybe I should look into it..."

Q: You were CCS Florida region #1 plate last year, you're currently in first place overall again this year. Think you can pull it off again? And how many years have you been the club champ?

A: I was CCS Florida champion in 2002 and 2005. It's gonna be pretty hard for me to not pull it off again this year, I'm pretty far ahead in the points. You never know, but the season's been going good so far.

Q: You continually race your GSX-R600 against bigger bikes, what's that like?

A: Well, I've broken three track records this year during our shootouts. I beat Robert Jensen on his 1000 on my 600.

People don't know what to say when I win on the 600; they think I'm cheating automatically. The other racers even went so far as to sign a petition to ban me from the track for cheating! But I said I didn't care what the petition said. They did it just to mess with me. I said they could pull my motor, the one that broke all the track records, and if they found anything that proved I was cheating, they could have my bike. I told them they could take it‹title and all‹and I haven't heard a word since. They pulled up my engine casing numbers and called Suzuki. It proved I didn't have a 750 as everyone suspected. I was 100% legal. After that, I got a public apology at the track. And it was great when Jensen said, "Your bike's not that fast, it's just you."

Q: What can we expect from you in the future?

A: We're currently creating a pilot for a racing film about me and my life. We have a few prospective producers. We're not sure yet if it will actually turn into a reality show or a movie, but my manger funded it because he knows there's too much there in my life. It's a great story.

It is a great story, and one that we here at LeoVince USA are glad to have played a part in. We're sure that Darren has a very bright future ahead of him, whether his next adventure will be on the track or on the screen. LeoVince USA is proud to support Darren and literally hundreds of privateer racers like him across the country. We'd like to say good luck to all our sponsored riders, and good luck to Darren!