James got his passion for speed through his father David, a Doctor who loved fast cars and motorcycles. He bought James his first motorcycle aged eight which he would ride in his parents garden. He quickly moved into Motorcross and worked his way up into the top 40 in Britain in Schoolboy Motorcross. But instead of pursuing a career in that sport he swapped to road racing at 16 in 1990. He finished 2nd in the British 125 Ministock Championship in his first year. Also starting in Ministocks that season was Neil Hodgson who immediately became (and still is) a great friend of James'). James then moved straight into The British 125cc Championship in 1991 (grabbing a pole position, some top 10 finishes and also winning the EMRA 125cc Championship). He was then spotted by Ron Haslem for a ride on Team Great Britain in 1992 after a disappointing finish in the 1991 Superteen championship. He raced a Yamaha TZ250 and won his first British Championship race at Silverstone that same year. The next season in 1993 he just missed out on winning the British 250cc Championship (which he had dominated) after the camera he was carrying for TV came loose and jammed his back wheel in the final race causing him to crash. The same season at 19 (having already won 4 British Championship 250cc races) he competed in the 1993 British 500cc Grand Prix, finishing 11th to become the youngest ever British points-scorer in a top-division World Championship race. He managed to finish well ahead of his mentor, the legendary Ron Haslam adding more prestige to his great performance. In 1994 he won his first British Superbike Championship race along with two more national 250cc victories that year.