Like many James Stewart stories, this one involves Chad Reed. Earlier this week we ran some quotes from Chad’s post-race interview with Steve Matthes regarding his 200th AMA Supercross start. This part stuck out: “From what I’ve heard, he [James] said the bike [’07 Kawasaki] was terrible. [But] It was unbelievable how strong he was and the things he could do on a motorcycle was just for sure next level. All these great things we say about James I think is really based on that year.”
At first, I thought that was a ridiculous quote. Just based on that one year? By 2007, we’d seen many great things from James Stewart. The Bubba Scrub at Budds Creek came in 2003. Winning 23 of 24 motos against 250Fs on a 125 in 2004. Winning his second try at a dry supercross in the premiere class—while his front brake was acting up—in 2005. Yes, the 2007 James Stewart was the best yet, but it was only the inevitable conclusion of what we knew would happen already. He’d always been gnarly! By the year 2000, any reasonable person following this sport could tell you that in seven years, James would be on top.
I’ve been thinking about Chad’s quote all week, and I’ve started to realize there is an actual point there. James Stewart in 2007 represented all we thought he would be. He was dominant. Not only did he win 13 of 16 races, he did it on a Kawasaki wearing Fox gear, which was the stuff we’d always known. It was a little strange to see the old 259 switched to number 7, but hey, that’s just a number, right?
More importantly, the 2007 James Stewart was pre ACL surgeries, pre broken wrist, pre more knee problems and pre who knows how many more hits to the head. He was fresh and still very young (21 when he actually clinched the title). The James Stewart story always covers a lot of topics, but let’s not forget injuries are at the very forefront of it all. Had he not gotten hurt so much, he would have won even more. (I’m sure he’s also dealing with every day aches from all of this stuff.)
Although by 2007 James’ image was no longer perfect—there were some rough patches along the way—he was still okay. He was basically inheriting the mantle like everyone had expected. He was champ, he was a strong representative of the sport, and he was in control. This was the Kawasaki James Stewart. This was the fresh, young, uninjured James Stewart. This was the best James Stewart.
Some questionable decisions came next. He didn’t get his ACL fixed in the summer of 2007, and hurt it again early in 2008 and had to drop from that SX chase. (Then there is Reed, always in the mental game. He told Matthes: “Then obviously ’08 we made big changes and I won the title,” without even mentioning that James wasn’t there. Chad is the master of the racer mentality!) Kawasaki didn’t offer to bring James back for 2009. It’s hard to say exactly what had soured the relationship, certainly some of it had to be on Monster Energy’s new title sponsorship deal with the team, and James’ loyalty to Red Bull, but I suspect it went deeper. The old Kawasaki team manager, Mike Fisher, never shied away from saying he didn’t ask James to return. Suffice to say the relationship had gone south.
Not like the Yamaha days weren’t good at first. The start was a little slow in 2009 but I remember watching practice in Houston (Round 4) and it was obvious that was fixed. James was back to throwing the front end down over jumps and doing amazing things. But more trouble was brewing. He won the title but not without lots of drama. Then he went SX only, he couldn’t get on with the all-new YZ450F for ’10 and then he broke his wrist badly at Round 2.
As is usually the case with navicular problems, the wrist took forever to heal. In the summer of 2010, he tried an ill-fated comeback at Unadilla, but he and the bike were not ready. For the first time ever, we saw something different: a James Stewart who was fallible. Up until then, if James was on the track and not crashing, he was going to be hard to beat.
(In the summer of ’07, Carmichael did out duel James for six-straight overalls. But those battles were epic and amazing and probably the biggest feats of daring we’ve ever seen on a motocross track. No doubt the 450s have been refined now and are much better bikes, but James and Ricky…they didn’t care! At that point they were just twisting and ripping, attacking and exploding around the track. Ricky won the races, but both were just mind-blowing in speed. That Unadilla 2010 attempt, that was something totally different.)
It was okay, though. By that Unadilla race in 2010, James was still just 25. He was a little over a year removed from a supercross title. The world could very much still have been his, as I wrote in a story on the eve of the 2011 season. But while he started that season well, with three wins in five rounds, crashes started to mount, things got complicated, and it faded away. Then he skipped outdoors again.
He tried with find the magic with JGR in 2012, but things didn’t get better. When he got on that Suzuki he wanted, we finally saw glimpses of the old James Stewart again during those four glorious motos at the start of the 2012 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. Alas, it was short lived, and perhaps only because of a photographer crossing the track, drawing his attention, and taking him down. But that’s the problem. It’s been, what, six years now of that kind of thing? Just when it looks like that dominant machine is about to get going, something always pulls him back down. At this point, no one can even figure out what’s his fault and what isn’t. At this point, everyone just seems confused by it all.
The last time this stuff didn’t happen? The 2007 supercross season, and the 2008 nationals. We’ve seen the speed again, but every season since has been dotted by some sort of drama or crash or controversy. What’s going on now is really just unfortunate, although I’d rather say it’s just sad, but that sounds a little too insulting. I don’t think James is looking for sympathy.
And then this morning I saw this on Instagram. A professional rider, Adam Cianciarulo, summed it up better than a professional writer like myself ever could.
James Stewart. I've met him, but by no means do I know him. What I do know, however, is that when I watched him go from last to first at Budds Creek in 2003 he forever changed the way I looked at the sport. There was now a new ceiling to reach for, a higher level of speed me and every other kid dreaming of one day becoming of pro would be striving to achieve. In any sport, there's always someone that changes the way the game is played. Steph Curry has crazy range, a consistent excellence & volume from the 3-point line that has not been seen before. Because of that, he has paved the way for there to be someone better than him. The same thing James did when he scrubbed Henry hill all those years ago. One day there will be someone faster than James, but it's because of him that the sport can one day elevate to that level. I understand, people forget easily. You're only as good as your last race and that's the truth. Is that harsh? Yes. That's reality though. But if you can't appreciate James for his results now, appreciate him for giving little kids like me the ability to shoot for what we once thought was impossible. #thoughts
It's a rough time right now. But it’s not all bad.
