Kawasaki/Racer X Race Report: Seattle

A lifetime of dreams, and he made it.

Perhaps it was inevitable. When James Stewart emerged as a rising amateur star over a decade ago, his rise to the top seemed destined to end with the ultimate prize in the sport: an AMA Supercross Title. It took awhile to get there, but the time is now and with his win at tonight’s Seattle Supercross, James Stewart is the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Champion.

            The Monster Energy Kawasaki rider also successfully defended his Amp’d Mobile AMA World Supercross GP Championship. Although both titles seemed like a foregone conclusion earlier in the season, Stewart was rendered nearly speechless when he finally got his hands on those number one plates.

            “I thought my lips were going to bust I was smiling so hard,” said Stewart. “I’m just so happy right now, I don’t even have the words for it. I’m so pumped it’s not even funny!”

This track probably got more maintenance breaks than any other,and it still did this!

            Stewart basically had to avoid a major mistake to clinch the title, but the incredibly rutted Seattle track seemed like it would lend itself to such a mistake. The weather was perfect, but the dirt had plenty of water stored in it from last year’s rain. That led to one of the most rutted tracks anyone had seen in a long time. Stewart though, didn’t seem to make a mistake all night.

            Everyone else had problems, though. The main started with a battle for the Progressive Direct Holeshot Award between Cernic’s Kawasaki’s Jeff Gibson and Makita Suzuki’s Ivan Tedesco, but Tedesco went tumbling to the ground in turn two, and Chad Reed got caught up behind him. Reed then had to run to the San Manuel Yamaha pits to get his bike worked on, and he ended lap one way back in last place. This effectively handed Stewart the title, and also ended Reed’s season-long streak of podiums. He finished sixth.

            Stewart soon took the lead from Gibson and checked out. Honda’s Davi Millsaps was fast all night and moved into second, only to crash, and then work his way back into second anyway and hold it to the finish—by far his best performance ever in the Supercross class. Stewart’s teammate Tim Ferry also had a shot at second until he stalled, which allowed Sobe No Fear/Samsung Honda’s Kevin Windham to bust through for third. Windham and Millsaps both rode well, although not nearly at Stewart’s pace. Ferry was fourth and Team Honda’s Andrew Short took fifth.

Villopoto keeps his throttle WFO

            In the Lites, Monster/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto was expected to win this one in front of his home-state fans, and he did. It wasn’t easy though, as all of the top Lites contenders started in front of him—Josh Hill, Josh Grant, Jason Lawrence and Progressive Direct Holeshot Winner Chris Gossellaar—yet RV mowed them all down and motored away. Hill looked strong leading the race early but eventually tightened up and faded to fourth. Lawrence took second, and Grant crashed out of third, allowing Hill to sneak onto the podium. Interestingly, the top three in the race also ended up the top three in the final series standings.

            Lites racers are done chasing points, now it’s onto Vegas for the East West Shootout next weekend. Stewart’s 21 now, but he’s doesn’t cause many risks when gambling. He’s been a sure bet for a long time now.

Kawasaki is having an incredible year