And so now, after he won his sixth consecutive supercross in the seven-race-old 2009 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series in San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium, San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart has caught championship leader Chad Reed. And now the duo will head east to the Georgia Done in Atlanta, Georgia to begin the East Coast swing of the series. With 10 rounds remaining in the 2009 Formula 1 of global motocross, Stewart and Reed are now in a straight-up tie with exactly 152 points each.
Since his crash-induced disastrous opening round at Anaheim I, Stewart has been on fire, and he threw another log on that fire last evening in “America’s Finest City” (that’s what San Diego calls itself). The 20-lap main event began with Mike Alessi and his #800 Suzuki grabbing the holeshot, however in the span of two turns, Stewart blitzed by the yellow RM-Z450F and set full-sail at the front of the 20-rider pack. With Reed, who also swung around Alessi, in tow, Stewart began eking away from the 2008 supercross champion, his lead up three seconds by the beginning of lap five. As he methodically checked off one blazingly fast lap after another, at the 15-lap mark, Stewart had well over 10 seconds on Reed. And when the checkered fag flew, it was Stewart flashing beneath it precisely 8.2 seconds ahead of his primary title challenger. Third went to a steadily improving Andrew Short, the Honda rider a mere 1.5 seconds behind Reed. Fourth, nipping at Short’s rear fender was Ryan Villopoto who had charged back for a woeful start. Then came Honda’s Davi Millsaps, Alessi, Kevin Windham, Michael Byrne, Nick Wey and Ivan Tedesco.
”It was a tough track, but everything was working good,” said Stewart after the main had run its course. “I can’t believe how good my bike was working tonight. I just had some good luck. To come back where we were at, 23-points back, it’s just amazing. [San Diego] is special to me – it gave me my first victory in 2002, so I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the city.”
Reed, meanwhile, was second yet again. A finishing position he seems to becoming tired of. “I was there off the start, but I just wasn’t fast enough,” he lamented. “Stewart was riding good; I just wasn’t feeling it today.”
10 rounds into the 17-round Monster Energy Supercross Series, Reed and Stewart stand tall above all others with 152 points each. Now in third is Andrew Short with 122 points. Joe Gibbs Racing/Toyota/Yamaha/No Fear’s Josh Grant now drops to fourth with 112 points, a crash in San Diego sending him off the track and to the hospital. Ryan Villopoto is a close fifth with 106 points to his name.
In what will be their last round for WELL over a month as the East Region Series now goes to the fore, the AMA West Region Lites Championship Series ran at Qualcomm. And it was there that Makita Rockstar Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey found his way atop the podium after passing Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Morais on the opening lap of the 15-lap main event. From there, Dungey checked out, winning the main over by Morais by over four seconds. Morais’ teammate Jake Weimer placed third. With only one race remaining to be run in the West Region Series — Seattle in April — Dungey holds a sparse two-point lead over Weimer setting up what appears to be a heck of a final round fight to the bell.