450 Words: Dallas
April 2, 2007 10:42am
Over and over, you will hear how James Stewart is smarter and smoother and more mature—and then he’ll make a mistake, and the controversy begins anew. But on Saturday night at the Dallas round of Amp’d Mobile Supercross, Stewart really proved just how smart he’s become. He used literacy to win the race.
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Then his mechanic, Jeremy Albrecht, wrote “Double Double Triple” on Stewart’s pit board. James read it, interpreted it, and jumped the section just like Reed. Then he started pulling away.
First, most riders like to keep their pit boards simple. Consider how Ricky Carmichael’s board almost never lists anything but lap times. Moto XXX Honda rider Josh Summey says he has improved his results tremendously this year by telling his mechanic to only list lap times—listing positions only adds pressure.
Then, consider how difficult it is to even read a pit board. The Dallas Lites winner, Ben Townley, said he hasn’t read his pit board yet this year, because he’s not used to the short SX straights past the mechanics’ area.
But Stewart got the message and jumped the section—impressive in itself, since the track was rutted and Stewart had not attempted that leap at all during the day or night. It was that combination of smarts and bravery that led to his tenth win of the year.
Give Reed credit, though. He was much better in Dallas than he was in Indy. After Stewart pulled him at lap ten, Reed started inching back to him on lap 16, and turned in his fastest lap of the night on lap 20. He almost snuck inside in the final corner to win the race. This may promise exciting racing through the final three rounds of the series. Since Chad is only racing supercross this year, he might as well work through the two-weekend break to try to get another win before the season is done.
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Tim Ferry remains the leader of that pack though, as he passed both Honda boys to collect his fifth podium of the year. After the race, Timmy admitted he would have been happy to get just one podium this season, but now it’s clear that at 31 years old he is going to log the best supercross season of his career.
Sometimes old Red Dogs can learn new tricks!