Ricky James a 20 year old paraplegic from Murrieta, ca. stunned the competition by winning rounds 7 and 8 of the Lucas Oil Off Road Series in Lake Elsinore, Ca. on July 25th and 26th.
San Bernardino, Ca. July 28, 2009—Ricky James the 20 year old paraplegic race car driver from Murrieta, Ca. debuted his SoCal SuperTrucks.com SuperLite at the Lucas Oil Off Road race in Lake Elsinore on July 24th where he set the fast qualifying time after very limited testing prior to the event. Ricky was quoted as saying “ I have never jumped a truck 70’ through the air before so I just pointed the truck at the jump, pushed the hand control throttle to the full position and hoped for the best” It worked out perfectly for Ricky as he posted the fastest time.
Ricky was paralyzed from the chest down in a motocross racing accident in March of 2005. SoCal SuperTrucks outfitted the SuperLite race truck with hand controls that allow him to control the throttle, brake, clutch and shifting with his left hand while leaving his right hand free to steer.
During Saturdays evening’s event Ricky started 8th due to a total inversion of the qualifying order. He was able to move into 4th position by the half way point of the race and eventually into 3rd. On the final lap of the race 1st and 2nd place drivers collided with a half a lap to go and Ricky had put himself in a position to capitalize on their mistake and went on to win the event in his first ever off road truck race.
Sunday night was nothing short of total domination, Ricky started on row 3 and by the second turn he was in second place. By the end of lap one he was in the lead and never looked back, taking the win by a wide margin.
Ricky had the perfect weekend by capturing the win on both nights of racing action and his comment on the podium was “I think I found my new sport” and “They’re gonna have to build a ramp to the podium”
“We’re extremely proud, What Ricky did this past weekend was pretty remarkable,” said Casey Coughlin, co-owner of SoCal SuperTrucks. “Ricky’s a talented kid and obviously has a strong desire to win and the talent to back that up.”
Ricky’s other accomplishments include, 2008 West Coast Pro Truck Champion, 2008 West Coast Pro Truck Rookie of the year, 2008 70.3 Ironman World Champion, 2008 X Games Adaptive Motocross Silver medalist, 2008 Challenge Athlete of the year, 2007 Baja 500 finisher.
Ricky James is sponsored by SoCal SuperTrucks, K&N Filters, ICON Vehicle Dynamics, Racing Plus, Alpinestars, MasterShift, Oakley, and Total Power batteries.
For more info, please check out:
http://www.socalsupertrucks.com and http://www.rickyjames824.com or visit us at:
SoCal SuperTrucks - 774 South E Street, San Bernardino, CA 92408
For media and sponsorship inquiries, please contact SoCalSuperTrucks@NXTagency.com
