LandM San Manuel Yamaha star James Stewart left the Edward Jones Dome in St Louis for the twelfth round of the 2009 AMA Supercross Championship frustrated after a mistake caused the most successful rider of this year’s series to lose his ninth win of the season and concede three points to main title rival Chad Reed, with just five races remaining in the campaign.
Almost 56,000 spectators saw the YZ450F ace take the lead from brand-mate Josh Grant on the third lap and lead the field for more than half of the Main Event before missing a gear exiting the whoops section and hitting the dirt. He quickly remounted to re-enter the fray in fourth spot and overtake Grant on the final circulation for the runner-up spot.
The 23 year old had set the fastest lap on the night and clearly deserved a career 34th victory. It was a costly mistake however that allowed Reed to win for the third time in 2009 with the Australian yet to drop out of the top three.
“It was tough going through those whoops, I went into neutral that last time, and unfortunately it cost me,” said Stewart who has taken ten podium finishes from twelve meetings but has been damaged by a DNF and 7th position at Daytona. “I just had an off night, and honestly I’m glad to come out of here safe. I’ve never won this class here. I’ve always had something… The first year I DNF-ed, the second year Chad took me out, and after that, I took myself out.”
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Josh Grant returned to the podium for the first time since round two and after a few barren races. The impressive Rookie took the holeshot on his YZ450F and completed the 20 laps with a bent gear lever. He can now count on 8 top five results to stand 4th in the points entering the final phase of the season. “I got pretty lucky because my shifter got bent and I had to race the whole race in third gear,” he recalled. “Good thing I have a clutch! I had to work that thing.”
2008 West Coast Lites Champion Jason Lawrence obtained fifth place; giving Yamaha three YZ450Fs in the top five.
Stewart will be hoping to close the 11 point deficit to Reed next week with the sole non-U.S stop on the SX tour as the competition moves to the Roger Centre in Toronto.
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