With just two rounds to go in the 2009 AMA Supercross series (also an FIM World Championship) LandM San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart has moved to the top of the standings after scoring the runner-up position last Saturday at the Qwest Field in Seattle. The Floridian recovered from a poor start to run through the field and scoop 22 points for his 13th rostrum appearance so far in the seventeen-race schedule.
Stewart’s night of hard work and decent race-craft on the YZ450F across a sandy and rough track on the west coast was further buoyed by the news that main title rival Chad Reed could only take 7th place - his worst finish of the season - after a first turn tumble. The 23 year old gained nine positions in fifteen laps after being held up around a tight opening corner.
“They told me how far I was back - fifteenth or something like that - and it was crazy,” he recalls. “I bent my clutch lever as soon as I got hit in that first corner, and it was just like, ‘Man, just try to stay up.’ The first couple laps were carnage, with guys trying to pass each other. I’m pretty stunned that I was able to come up and get second because I saw how far ahead those guys were.”
Stewart had trailed the Australian by five points coming to Seattle but the classification from Saturday evening mean that the pair have swapped positions at the top of the championship standings and the Yamaha rider has a 3 point advantage with only trips to Salt Lake City and Las Vegas in the next two weeks left to run.
“We’ve had 15 races and I’ve been in the points lead twice now,” said Stewart who is still hoping to be the first rider to give Yamaha 11 victories in one season (he currently has 10 and a career total of 35). “At the end of the day, it’s for the championship. It’s all about the championship right now. I’ve won a lot of races this year, and I always found myself in second place in the points - always catching up - so it feels good to be in the points lead, but we’ve got a long way to go still.”
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Josh Grant took 6th position on his YZ450F and is 4th in the points table.
The penultimate round of the 2009 campaign will take place next Saturday at the Rice Eccles Field in Salt Lake City.
2009 AMA-SX Seattle, WA 19/04/2009
Race 1 - 20 Laps
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Ryan Villopoto Kawasaki USA 18'28.902 2 James Stewart Yamaha USA 0'07.873 3 David D Millsaps Honda USA 0'09.359 4 Mike Alessi Suzuki USA 0'10.735 5 Andrew Short Honda USA 0'23.027 6 Josh Grant Yamaha USA 0'29.702 7 Chad Reed Suzuki AUS 0'38.537 8 Paul Carpenter Kawasaki USA 0'43.705 9 Ivan Tedesco Honda USA 0'47.632 10 Kevin Windham Honda USA 0'52.394 11 Nicholas Wey Yamaha USA 0'54.538 12 Heath Voss Honda USA 1'06.764 13 Thomas Hahn Kawasaki USA -1Laps 15 Jason Thomas Honda USA -1Laps 16 Kyle Chisholm Yamaha USA -1Laps
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