Green Sweep!
Published: 14th May 2007
Author: Steve Cox
Kawasaki take four from four as the AMA and world SX championships draw to a close.
With Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto already having clinched the AMA Lites Western Regional SX crown at round seven of the series, this leaves the Eastern Regional Lites and the AMA SX titles (along with the World SX Championship) still to be decided.
Monster Energy Kawasaki's James Stewart has won in just about every way this year. He's won from behind, he's won out in battles and in Detroit he gets an opportunity to do it the easy way - to win from the front.
Stewart grabs the holeshot with his team-mate Timmy Ferry right on his tail followed by Andrew Short, Ivan Tedesco, Michael Byrne, Chad Reed and Kevin Windham. The way Stewart has been riding all year most expect that he will just run away but Ferry has other plans.
"It started off good with a holeshot and that was a key part," Stewart says. "I knew if I got a start and stayed up it was my race... The first couple laps I was making some mistakes and I had to calm down a little bit. I could see Timmy trying to hang with me back there so I'm sure he had to be a little nervous being up so close."
Ferry hangs within a couple of seconds of Stewart for nearly half of the race before he begins to drop back. By then Reed has worked his way into third with Windham hot on his heels.
"I didn't realize I was as far back as I actually was," Reed says of his early laps. "When I got into fifth or fourth I thought I was third and I wasn't. Me and Kevin were going at it and he showed me my passing line for the rest of the race. I passed pretty much everyone right there."
Windham trails Reed from outside the top five and Reed uses a line after a tricky triple onto a tabletop, followed by a step-off over a jump to make all of his passes from there. He would just slide up to the inside in the turn and take the line away from his competitors.
Once he gets into third, though, he has a ways to go in order to catch Ferry. "When I got into third I knew Red Dog was a long way out there and he was going fast but I was happy to see him getting jacked by the lappers," Reed adds. "I made some time on him and put a pass on him and put some seconds on him."
Stewart has his moments with lappers as well but not enough to cost him the lead. "I had a couple of moments. It's tough because the guys try their best to get out of the way and as fast as the track is they're battling for privateer money so I don't blame them. Once they saw it was me they moved out of the way so no hard feelings at all."
Once Reed grabs second the race is decided with Stewart taking a well-earned victory from the front.
In Seattle - the penultimate round of the series - Jeff Gibson grabs the holeshot but Stewart is quickly into the lead, even though he only needs ninth place or better to clinch the championship one round early. His chief rival Reed is kicking his bike over when the 30-second board goes sideways, gets it going just as the gate drops and still manages a top-three start! Unfortunately, Tedesco goes down in second and gathers Reed up with him, forcing the Aussie to the back of the pack before he has to stop and get his throttle fixed in the mechanics' area. The championship is basically over.
Stewart leads every lap and wins his 12th of the season over Millsaps and Windham while Ferry finishes fourth, Short fifth and Reed catches back up to sixth. So Stewart wins his first AMA SX crown and his second consecutive world SX title.
"The easiest thing for me was to ride the first few laps like I always do," Stewart says. "I was able to get a gap and it made it a little bit easier and all I had to do was focus on the race from there. The last five laps I rode like crap and I was just too tight but I'm just so stoked... Since I knew what a motorcycle was, watching all my favourite guys - Rick Johnson, Jeff Matiasevich, McGrath, Jeff Emig, Ricky - I always wanted to hold one of these things up [number-one plates] and to hold two of them up in one night is even more special."
Series standings
Supercross
1 James Stewart 360 points
2 Chad Reed 312
3 Tim Ferry 261
4 Kevin Windham 220
5 David Vuillemin 182
6 Ivan Tedesco 179
7 Michael Byrne 178
8 Ricky Carmichael 160
9 Heath Voss 148
10 Paul Carpenter 135