Suzuki's Crossover Challange

Over 60,000 people watched as 24 participants from all different professions mounted up and attempted to race a difficult San Diego supercross track. In the years past, this annual race has been held on the Friday prior to Saturday's big show, this year they decided to put the race under the lights and in front of over 60,000 people. Quite the burden for a bunch of guys who don't usually race motorcycles.Victor Sheldon is a 3-time winner of the Suzuki Crossover and was the odds on favorite for this year's event. Victor is one of Dirt Riders many test riders and a well-known Jet Ski racer. This year our stickers were on the bike of Greg Herbold who is a professional mountain biker. Greg was also a participant in our 24-hour torture test held in Gorman California. The rest of the racers come from all different sports backgrounds such as BMX racing, Surfing, Skateboarding, road racing and kayaking, along with a couple musicians and TV personalities.The schedule was set so that the racers would get two fifteen-minute practices on the course and were set to race at nine. However, there was a delay in the schedule because of a few injuries during the day time qualifying. This meant that the participants would only get one practice. Even if you are a solid supercross rider you have to stop and look at the situation to understand the pressure that they must have felt when they came out of the tunnel into a packed stadium. They are on unfamiliar bikes which they will be racing on a track that they have only had 15 minutes of practice on. A pretty nerve racking situation for anyone.As the Gate dropped, the racers headed into the first turn and Karim Amour, a friend of David Vuillemin, took the lead. Karim actually wore a one of David's jerseys during his race. Race favorite Victor Sheldon was on the gas and making his way thru the pack, but a few spills kept him from a podium finish. The race continued as 2nd and 3rd place battled for position. The end result was Karim Amour in first, John Haskell in second and rounding out the podium was Jim Doman.Overall Results1. Karim Amour, mountain biking
2. John Haskell, Suzuki
3. Jim Doman, Kayaking
4. Aaron Cooke, BMX
5. Joe Lawwill, mountain biking
6. Victor Sheldon, jet skiing
7. Brian Lopes, mountain biking
8. Greg Herbold, mountain biking
9. Adam Booth, BMX
10. Eric Spriet, skiing
11. Garth Tarlow, surfing
12. Jason Ellis, skateboarding
13. Robbie Miranda, BMX
14. Aaron Vincent, snowboarding
15. Jordan Burns, music
16. Jason Bikowski, television personality
17. Steve Caballero, skateboarding
18. Salman Agah, skateboarding
19. John Zuber, snowboarding
20. Malcolm McCassey, video producer
21. Doug Sloan, television personality
22. Dwayne Taylor, BMX
23. Jeremy Toye, road racing
24. Josh Sleigh, surfing