James Stewart picked up his ninth win of the 2009 AMA Supercross series (also an FIM World Championship) by owning round thirteen of seventeen at the Roger’s Centre in Toronto, the only non-American event on the schedule. Nearly 37,000 spectators saw the 23 year old take his YZ450F back to the top of the podium just one week after a disappointing outing in St Louis.
Stewart came to the venue having won at the same place in 2005 and knew that nothing less than a victory would suffice if he was to keep his title hopes alive. Across a difficult and rutted track the LandM San Manuel rider pulled out a lead over main championship foe Chad Reed after swopping past Mike Alessi on the first lap. Without any of the costly errors that dogged his performance seven days earlier the Yamaha man managed to ease away to the chequered flag.
“Honestly, my job is the same every weekend and that’s to prepare like always, and then see what I can do,” Stewart said. “I think that I have to win every race every weekend, so nothing’s changed. I work hard, and I just have to keep focused on what I’m doing, and I think it showed in the 20 laps I put in tonight.”
With his ninth triumph, the AMA Motocross Champion cut down Reed’s numerical advantage to just 8 points. With his Australian peer not dropping out of the top three all season Stewart needs to win at least three of the four remaining rounds if his rival keeps taking runner-up positions, to clinch the crown.
Yamaha’s Josh Hill celebrated his first podium finish with third position and also marked something of a return to form after suffering problems with his should since the start of the season. “It’s been a really tough year for me,” he said. “I tore my labarum in my shoulder at the start of the year, and as soon as that started feeling better, I tore ligaments. It’s been really hard for me, but I just want to thank my team for not giving up on me, and James (Stewart) for letting me come and ride at his house. Hopefully, I’ll just get better from here.”
Hill beat Joe Gibbs Racing’s Josh Grant to the rostrum. Grant is fourth in the standings and 19 points away from Andrew Short.
Yamaha had cause for celebration in the East Coast Lites series as Broc Tickle took his YZ250F to third place; his first ever AMA podium finish. “This is the first time I’ve ever been on the podium,” he said. “After the race, I didn’t even know how to pop the champagne cork. I’m so happy I can’t believe it. It’s late in the year, but after breaking my jaw on Press Day before Anaheim I, this is a big deal for me.”
Round fourteen takes place next Saturday in Jacksonville, Florida.
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