ESPN- Pole Position Raceway Supercross Vs. Freestyle Invitati...

A capacity crowed filled Pole Position Raceway in Corona, California on Jan 13 2009 night for the first-ever Supercross vs. Freestyle Invitational Grand Prix. The extreme sports event also drew athletes from other sports including skateboarder and MTV's "Life of Ryan" star Ryan Sheckler, 2007 N.A.H.A. Hillclimb World Champion Robie Peterson, and U.S. Indoor Kart Champion Truman Godfrey. Ricky James, a paraplegic who finished second at this year's X-Games in Adaptive Moto-X qualified on the pole for the 14-driver main event. James led the first few laps until he was passed by Peterson and former World & National Motocross Champion Grant Langston. Peterson ended up winning by 0.86 seconds ahead of James. Langston spend the late stages of the race battling with defending AMA Supercross Series Champion Chad Reed. The two collided in the second turn on the 12th lap which sent Langston into a wall. Reed quickly recovered to finish fourth ahead of Kevin Windham.
"It was the best kart race I've ever been in," said Peterson. "The depth of talent was absolutely amazing and all of these guys are regulars at Pole Position Raceway so they all know how to drive the karts really well."
"It was really cool," said James. "This is the only place that I can really race against guys like Reed, Windham, Langston and Maddison because they have karts with hand controls for me. I can't tell you what its like to battle with guys who will be racing at the Anaheim Supecross this week."
"It was a lot of fun to race with so many world-class riders at one time," said Langston. "I've driven karts with a lot of them, but I've never raced at an indoor kart track with so many people there. The place was absolutely packed.
World record jump Robbie Maddison was one of the fastest drivers, but finished 14th after crashing on the opening laps. The event was sponsored by Coca-Cola, Monster Energy, ZLT, Race Tech, Impact Video, Corona Motorsports, and Dirt Alliance.