Stewart Finishes Seventh at Daytona

LandM San Manuel Yamaha rider James Stewart recorded his lowest race finish of the 2009 AMA Supercross (and FIM SX World Championship) series last weekend at Daytona with 7th position in the main event after a first turn crash left him almost last at the start of the tenth round of seventeen.

The 23 year old - competing at his home race - slipped off under braking for the tight first left turn and was lucky not to be hit from the chasing hoards behind. After remounting, the rest of the 20 lap sprint was about battling through the pack to make up ground with a damaged YZ450F. The AMA Motocross Champion reached seventh before the chequered flag called a halt to his charge. Disappointed Stewart was also angry at conceding 11 points to main title rival Chad Reed who pulled though to notch his second win in a row.

Yamaha retained some presence on the Daytona podium with Jason Lawrence emerging relatively unscathed through the early race chaos and led the majority of laps until Reed took control. His status as runner-up is still his best ever finish in the SX class and means that Yamaha have been present on the rostrum at every event so far and still hold eight victories thanks to the efforts of Stewart and Josh Grant.

"I would've been happy with anything in the top ten; honestly just to get around the track 20 times at the level of fitness I'm at right now is good," said Lawrence on his surprise result. "I think I was the only guy that wasn't in a first-turn pileup. I had a huge gap on Chad, and really he shouldn't have been able to close that, but it's hard with someone like that behind you and you know what they can do. I didn't want to battle Chad too hard and force him into putting me off the track or taking myself out, so I just tried to play it smart and I got second."

Joe Gibbs Racing's Grant did not make the Main Event after a crash in the Last Chance Qualification heat ruled him out; apparently he also suffered a sore knee as a consequence of his prang.

Stewart now trails Reed by 11 points but is 50 in front of Andrew Short in third place. Grant has dropped to sixth. Round eleven will take place next weekend at the Superdome in New Orleans.