
MXSponsor Hosts Outlaw Ride Day for Fallen Rider James Marshall
March 25 2006, 8:00 AM
The ‘Outlaw Ride Day’ benefiting James Marshall was a complete success with nearly a thousand people turning out to help support James Marshall and raising nearly $20,000 for his recovery fund. James Marshall was tragically paralyzed on February 11th during the Amp’d Mobile Supercross series in San Diego. Marshall is being treated in ICU at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego were he continues his progress with great faith and enthusiasm. Monday, the night before the event, rains poured down throughout Southern California and putting many fears for the conditions of the Ride Day. Promoters, organizers and sponsors of the event arrived early in the morning as dark clouds hovered over the track. Despite the weather, there was a constant flow of arriving riders and spectators throughout the entire day that eventually climbed to nearly one thousand people. Although the track was wet in the morning, the sun came out and provided some great riding conditions for the afternoon.
The day was filled with pro appearances from riders such as Grant Langston, Andrew Short, Josh Grant, Ryan Villipoto, Nick Wey, Mike and Jeff Alessi, Troy Adams, Branden Jesseman, Ricky James, Ryan Morais, Richie Owens, Rick Johnson, Johnny Campbell, David Pingree, Jimmy Button, Michael Lapaglia, Ryan Abrigo, Sean Collier, and many more. Every major magazine as well as several television crews were out in force shooting the event as well as conducting interviews around the pits. Cameron Steele made an appearance and spoke on the loud speaker about how James’ injury has rallied the motocross industry in support.
Over 40 companies attended the event with an additional 50 companies participating in donations of products and merchandise. The large crowd was treated to auctions, raffles, pro appearances, interviews and a personal phone call via loud speaker from James Marshall himself. From his bed in the ICU, James was in great spirits and thrilled to speaking to all his supporters. His words were filled with thanks and appreciation to all the people and companies who have made efforts on his behalf. Notably, he thanked Mitch Payton of Pro Circuit, pro rider Andrew Short as well as many others for their numerous visits and ongoing encouragement. His number one prayer request was that he would regain complete feeling in his legs.
At the event, hot items included Outlaw Ride Day t-shirts, all the various raffle prizes, Marshall 452 decals as well as dozens of autographed jerseys. Throughout the day, raffles were being drawn for prize packs that included gear, accessories and parts donated by companies. At the end of the day, Josh Grant came by the event RV and donated his gear and Jeff Gordon Daytona Helmet for ebay.
A major highlight of the day was when Ricky James (who was tragically paralyzed himself) went out and put in several laps on his specially equipped Honda CRF450. Bringing tears to many eyes, Ricky was a huge inspiration to the crowd as he completed lap after lap showing that paralysis hasn’t prevented his passion from continuing.
The group of organizers from the Outlaw Ride Day have thousands of dollars of signed pro jerseys and merchandise ready for auctions on ebay to be launched soon. More details will be announced on HelpJames.org..
From everyone behind HelpJames.org and the Outlaw Ride Day, we want to thank everyone who came together to make this event possible. We want to thank all the pros who attended, Tom White (the MC of the day), Lori Bryant from Glen Helen, and all the dozens of volunteers who came out to setup and tear down. We also would like to thank the following companies for their participation and support:
Applied Racing MDK Motorsports
AXO MotoLift
Bel-Ray MotoMedic
Bel-Ray MotoRose
Blur Optics MotoStik
Boo Koo MotoXXX
Broken Clothing MXsponsor.com
Brotherhood Industries N-fab Inc
Brotherhood Industries Panic Rev Ministries
Chaparral PCS Neck System
CTi2 Pit Pro Cycle
DHMA Pro Circuit
DMXS Radio Pro Clean
Drum Worshop Inc Pro-X / LA Sleeve
Dubach Racing Racer X
Engine Ice Ride Engineering
Enzo Clothing Riders 4 Christ
Ergo Tech Road2Recovery
EVS Scott USA
Factory Connection Southern Nevada Supermoto
Factory Effex Stomp Grip
Fasst Company Suzuki
Fast 50s Team Faith
Fitness and Fuel Team Hawg Racing
58MX.com The Racers Edge
Fly Racing Troy Lee Designs
Fox Racing TrueOutlaw.com
Glen Helen Raceway Truth Soul Armor
Hahm Motorsports Universal
HB Cycles Van Leeuwen Enterprises
Hot Cams Weapon MX
IMS White Bros
Jardine Performance Wiseco
L.A Sleeve Wonder Warthog Racing
The James Marshall and the Marshall family thank you from the bottom of their hearts. We are all praying for miracle recovery in James Marshall’s body and we will keep you posted on the latest developments on www.HelpJames.org