AMA SX wrap - Double Drop!

Published: 13th March 2007

Author: Steve Cox

You know someone's good when you're forced to count their losses rather than their wins - and Stewart's lost two out of the last three...

In years past James Stewart has lost races through sheer impatience. In fact, he's developed the reputation that if he starts a ways behind he will try and make up a lot of time in a short time - and often this has resulted in a DNF or even injury.

However, Stewart has an opportunity to show his maturity at the Houston round of the AMP'D Mobile/AMA SX series as he starts out behind his championship rivals and then sits behind them and bides his time until the opportunity to take the lead arises.

Stewart's team-mate Timmy Ferry grabs his first holeshot in five years to start the Main Event with Kevin Windham second, Chad Reed third, Windham's team-mate Travis Preston fourth and Stewart fifth.

Windham shows a spark of life as he passes Ferry right at the end of lap one, taking over the lead and immediately distancing himself a bit from the pack. Preston falls while fourth on the second lap, crashing right in front of Stewart which momentarily halts his charge. Preston remounts eighth.

"I had a couple guys go down in front of me - Preston went down right after the whoops and I lost a little time," Stewart says. "I saw Kevin riding good out front, then I saw Timmy and I saw Chad and he really wasn't making it too hard. He was sitting in third. He didn't really close up on those guys like I thought he would."

Stewart finally makes his move on Reed for third on lap four and then makes quick work of Ferry a lap later. A lap after that, he shoves his way by Windham and into the lead.

"I knew I had to take my time," Stewart says. "I know my conditioning would bring me up to the front when lap 20 comes around so I wasn't really rushing it... I just wasn't in a rush and once I caught up to Chad I just put those few laps down and got around him and then Kevin and rode a solid race after that."  

The series heads to San Diego next where Reed chased down Carmichael for the win in 2005. Here, Carmichael's team-mate Ivan Tedesco grabs the holeshot followed by Reed, Stewart, Windham and Ferry. Reed passes Tedesco on the opening lap for the lead and Stewart follows suit a lap later, as does Windham a lap after that.

Stewart immediately sets out after Reed and after hounding him for two laps makes the pass stick on lap four before immediately putting a small gap on Reed. "At that point he had kind of pulled a little bit of a gap and I was trying to keep that gap as minimal as possible and get back up there," Reed says.

As he crosses the finish line to complete lap eight Stewart flies off his bike and crashes in a heap into the face of the second jump of the finish line double after swinging wide in the corner before and hanging up his rear brake lever on Tuff Blox which sends him over the bars. It takes him a while to get going. Reed assumes the lead over Windham who then loses second to Ferry. Stewart remounts eighth, just behind David Vuillemin. Once Ferry grabs second the podium is set. Reed takes the victory over Ferry and Windham while Tedesco holds on for fourth in front of Stewart. "I feel good," Reed says. "Relieved more than anything. I think St Louis [in 2006] was probably the most emotional I felt. Tonight, I just feel relieved. I knew I could win. We've been working hard and it's this team that got me here." Racing against Carmichael seems to bring out the best in Stewart and after San Diego he needs all the inspiration he can get in Atlanta. Reed grabs the Main Event holeshot, squeezing both Stewart and Carmichael out in the corner. Stewart grabs second right off and Carmichael grabs third.  

Before the trio cross the line to complete the first lap, Stewart stuffs Reed in a turn leading onto the start straightaway and takes over the lead. Reed has an opportunity to retaliate but thinks better of it. Barely over a lap later, Reed falls in a rutted turn following the finish line jump, handing Carmichael second and remounting fifth.

From there Carmichael makes a push to try and catch the fleeting Stewart. "I got a good start," Carmichael says. "I wasn't where I wanted to be but it was us three again and I was behind both Reed and James. I seen James pass Chad and I could see him putting in a sprint so I was like, 'sh*t, I need to get by Chad'. Then Chad made a mistake and I got by him when that happened and I tried reeling in James but he was nailing that rhythm section and I had my skirt on through that rhythm section. I was scared to do it and he wasn't."

The rhythm section Carmichael is speaking of is just after the finish line. Out of a left-hand corner (the first turn of the race) there are two small jumps, then a tabletop with a lip on the end of it. Most riders are jumping onto the table, then jumping off over the next jump, tripling and doubling out. Stewart clears the entire tabletop and then triple-triples out.

"It was real gnarly," Stewart says. "Everybody keeps telling me. I was able to pull out some lines that I wasn't doing all day long and I felt like I had a good rhythm going. It was faster and I was able to put it together in the Main Event real consistent. I think I started jumping it like four laps in because I knew I had to get a little gap because I knew the way the lappers were and the way the track was it was kind of one-lined."

In St Louis Reed grabs the holeshot followed closely by Stewart while Carmichael sits about fifth. Just before the finish of the first lap Stewart passes Reed for the lead, only for Reed to force the issue back to the inside of Stewart and knock them both down. Reed remounts quickly just behind Carmichael but Stewart remounts 19th. Carmichael, seeing his chance, puts on a sprint. "I saw Reed back there and put it down," Carmichael says.

Over the next couple of laps Carmichael gets into the lead and begins to pull away while Reed works his way into second around his team-mate Nathan Ramsey. However, by just past the halfway point Stewart amazingly catches Reed for second. He makes the pass in the same corner where Reed knocked them both down but Stewart is much nicer about it, just holding Reed up high before taking off with second place. By then, though, Carmichael is too far gone even for Stewart. So Carmichael takes his second victory of the AMA season with only two more supercross races on his schedule. "My goal was to win two of these four [in a row that he's racing]," Carmichael says. "Now I just need one of the next two." After the race Stewart motions for Reed to come up and talk to him and the two get into an argument that concludes with Reed pushing Stewart in his back as Stewart rides off. "I can't really say what was said," Stewart says.

There's no love lost between those two and there are still seven more races to run before a champion is crowned.

Series standings Supercross
1     James Stewart     210 points
2     Chad Reed   191
3     Tim Ferry   149
4     Kevin Windham     137
5     Ricky Carmichael  116
6     Michael Byrne     114
7     Heath Voss  107
8     Ivan Tedesco      103
9     David Vuillemin   101
10    Travis Preston    97