James Stewart took his JGRMX Yamaha YZ450F to a second AMA Supercross victory of the season in extremely difficult conditions at Daytona for round ten of seventeen in the series (also an FIM World Championship).
The former champion finished on top of the podium after triumphing through a shortened Main Event (sixteen laps instead of the normal twenty) that was blighted by heavy rainfall and saw the elongated circuit in the Daytona Motor Speedway infield become rough, choppy and virtually flooded. Stewart finished ahead of team-mate Davi Millsaps who claimed his first top three classification in two years.
It was Millsaps who aced the holeshot but was overtaken by Stewart – who had set the fastest lap by three seconds from the next rider in Timed Practice – inside two circulations and ‘JS7’ escaped to win the prestigious event in his home state.
“It was a tough and gnarly race,” said Stewart who now has 44 victories in the class and has tied with Jeremy McGrath in second place on the All-time SX/MX win list with 89. “Practice went really well, we set a good lap, won the heat race and got a good start. It was amazing and special to win Daytona for the second time.”
“It means a lot for us to get a win and to go 1-2 as a race team,” he added. “We had a lot of…I wouldn’t say bad luck but we had some struggles with starts – at least I have – and then some weird things happening. I’ve been saying if I got a start I felt like I could win one of these things. So tonight it was definitely good enough for me. So, I’m stoked.”
“I’m definitely not going to complain about that start,” commented Millsaps. “I had a clean track but I saw James was going a lot faster. I’m just pumped to be up here. I held in here and did my best. This is the first time I’ve been on the podium since 2010 in Supercross. It’s special, especially being here in Daytona and how the conditions were, and all my family and friends coming to this race. It was definitely a good one for me.”
With the absence of Ryan Dungey through a collarbone injury, Stewart is now just 15 points from second place in the standings and 44 behind leader Ryan Villopoto. Millsaps is sixth. Kyle Cunningham was seventh on the YZ250F at Daytona for what was the fourth outing for the East Coast Lites competition.
Round eleven takes place in the Lucas Oil Stadium of Indianapolis next Saturday.
2012 AMA-SX United States
Daytona International Speedway 11/03/2012 16 Laps
race I
1 James Stewart Yamaha USA 24’46.540
2 David D Millsaps Yamaha USA 0’07.573
3 Kevin Windham Honda USA 0’19.499
4 Marvin Musquin KTM FRA 0’35.855
5 Ryan Villopoto Kawasaki USA 0’44.230
6 Mike Alessi Suzuki USA 1’04.726
7 Jake Weimer Kawasaki USA 1’09.664
8 Broc Tickle Kawasaki USA 1’10.781
9 Matthew Goerke Suzuki USA 1’18.567
10 Brett Metcalfe Suzuki AUS 1’30.472
11 Nicholas Wey Kawasaki USA -1Laps
12 Kyle Chisholm Kawasaki USA -1Laps
13 Kyle Regal Honda USA -1Laps
14 Gavin Faith Honda USA -1Laps
15 Justin Sipes Kawasaki USA -1Laps
20 Robert Kiniry Yamaha USA -16Laps
AMA-SX World Standing
Rider Standings After Race 10 of 17
1. Ryan Villopoto Kawasaki USA 221
2. Ryan Dungey KTM USA 192
3. James Stewart Yamaha USA 177
4. Kevin Windham Honda USA 143
5. Jake Weimer Kawasaki USA 134
6. David D Millsaps Yamaha USA 131
7. Chad Reed Honda AUS 128
8. Brett Metcalfe Suzuki AUS 124
9. Justin Brayton Honda USA 121
10. Mike Alessi Suzuki USA 113
11. Kyle Chisholm Kawasaki USA 91
12. Josh Hansen Kawasaki USA 87
13. Broc Tickle Kawasaki USA 82
14. Nicholas Wey Kawasaki USA 76
15. Andrew Short Honda USA 59
16. Matthew Goerke Suzuki USA 38
17. Robert Kiniry Yamaha USA 32
31. Ryan Morais Yamaha USA 7
36. Nico Izzi Yamaha USA 3
38. Ben Lamay Yamaha USA 2
