After going down in a heap in the first turn of last Saturday night’s Daytona Supercross, James Stewart, his bell rung, struggled to find his tweaked and bent Yamaha YZ450F. He did finally find it, got going, and with the pack LONG gone, bravely fought his way back to a respectable seventh finishing position. Precisely seven days later in the America metropolis of New Orleans, Louisiana, James Stewart was back on his A Game, handily winning the New Orleans Supercross held inside the New Orleans Superdome. It was his eight win of the season and Stewart, who beat championship rival Chad Reed across the finish line by a healthy 5.542-second gap, also gained back a number of championship precious points on the Australian, Reed now with 246 points and Stewart with 238.

“I had to win tonight – point blank. I had to win,” said Stewart, keenly aware that there are only six races remaining on the 2009 AMA Supercross Series schedule. “This is what I needed heading into the race next weekend in St. Louis.”


Truth be told, the 20-lap main event was all Stewart. The San Manuel Yamaha rider grabbed the holeshot, rolled smoothly through the first turn and by the end of the fist lap had a .510 second lead on Suzuki’s Chad Reed. Try as he might, Reed just couldn’t pull up on Stewart — despite the fact the two riders were the only racers on the track to drop down into the 51-second lap range — and by the halfway mark, Stewart had pulled out to a 3.162-second lead. Stewart won the race and knocked Reed’s point lad down to eight. A surprising third on the night, 22.487 seconds behind Reed was Team Yamaha pilot Broc Hepler. Hepler put up a great fight to keep GEICO Powersports Honda’s Kevin Windham behind him at the finish line. Honda’s Andrew Short placed fifth, with Mike Alessi sixth and JGRMX/Toyota/Yamaha’s Josh Grant seventh. A bit an off night for the Californian, Grant still stand s solid fifth in the 2009 championship tussle.

The AMA East Region Lites Classification also ran in New Orleans and the winner of the 15-lap main event was Kawasaki’s Austin Stroupe. It was Stroupe’s second win of the season.

“It was a technical track tonight, so I had to ride smart,” said Stroupe, bouncing back from a big crash that took him out of the Daytona Supercross. “It was important to get the holeshot because I was able to get out front and ride my own race.”


Stroupe holeshot the main event over Daniel Blair and Branden Jesseman, and by the completion of the two lap mark, had a two second lead on his pursuers. At the halfway point, Stroupe led Canidae Kawasaki rider Branden Jesseman by 7.464 seconds. Honda rider Blake Wharton held station in third place. When the checkered flag flew at the end of lap 15, Stroupe was the first rider to meet it, 3.332 seconds clear of Jesseman. Wharton, 13.411 second adrift, was third. Series points leader Christophe Pourcel started the main event way back in 12th place, but kept on chugging to snag fourth place on the white flag lap. Pourcel still maintains a healthy points lead in the East Region Lites title fight, however due to not making into the main event in New Orleans, Suzuki’s Nico Izzi now drops down to third, surpassed by Austin Stroupe.

by Eric Johnson