The other win for Team Green in Canada’s largest city came December 4th, 2005 when James Stewart rode his first-ever race on a KX450F, and showed everyone that he was going to be a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming 2006 calendar year.
This race was held in December and only counted toward the World Supercross points, not the AMA series, but all the top dogs were present. Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael, and Yamaha’s Chad Reed, among others, were there and ready to race.
Stewart made his debut in the SX class in 2005.
Photo: Simon Cudby
The gate dropped and Stewart rounded the first turn right alongside his then-teammate Michael Byrne. The stage was set for some drama when Stewart hit a rock and tipped over early on in the race. This mistake allowed Carmichael to slip by and it took until around halfway for Stewart to catch back up on the number four.
From there it was a cat and mouse game as Stewart would go by, suddenly slow and then Carmichael would repass the Kawasaki rider. Finally, with two laps to go, Stewart slipped by and made it stick.
He would go on to take the checkers in the first round of the world series but what we didn’t know at the time was that the upcoming 2006 AMA Supercross series was going to be an epic one between Stewart, Carmichael and Reed.
In Toronto 2005, James Stewart made it be known that he was here to stay.
Photo: Simon Cudby
"I think basically that was the old James Stewart - just go out there and race," said Stewart, who had “new beginning” written on the back of his pants. He lapped up to sixth place in the 20-lap race. "But I want to go 18 races, and I'm really focusing on the track, watching the videos between practices, and I'm finding some good lines out there that I know with the way the track deteriorates, it's going to be great toward the end. Ricky messed up there and I didn't want to land on him - again. But it was a great race. It's the first real supercross for the KX450 and we got two holeshots."
The race back in 2005 was a great one and it all took place in Toronto, site of this weekends race.
Results 2005 Toronto Supercross
1. James Stewart Jr. (Kaw)
2. Ricky Carmichael (Suz)
3. Chad Reed (Yam)
4. Ivan Tedesco (Suz)
5. Nick Wey (Hon)
6. Michael Byrne (Kaw)
7. Jason Thomas (Hon)
8. Justin Buckelew (Hon)
9. Jeff Gibson (Hon)
10. Doug DeHaan (Hon)