Team Suzuki Press Office – June 3. Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s James Stewart turned in a solid performance at the Tennessee National in Blountville, Tennessee on Saturday afternoon. The first-ever national motocross at Muddy Creek Raceway saw Stewart pilot his Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 to a respectable fourth place overall as five Suzuki riders filled the top 10 positions.
Racing at Muddy Creek for the first time in more than 10 years, Stewart carded two strong moto finishes despite some internal struggle. In the first race, he got a top-five start and ran in a podium position for several laps before finishing fourth. In the second moto, he again got a decent start on his Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 and avoided a nasty turn-one pile-up. He went on to focus on turning smooth, consistent laps to finish sixth. Combined, these results gave the Yoshimura Suzuki rider fourth overall.
Said Stewart: “Practice didn’t go good for us. I was kind-of disappointed. I don’t know, it was the first time in a while that I had a complete off day. I’ve had off practices but I always made it up in the Main Event but today, I just really didn’t have anything. I didn’t have any flow with the track. And it was pretty tough, with a lot of ruts and turns and jumps where you had to be pretty perfect on the motorcycle. So to have an off day on a track like that wasn’t good. But we’re going to make some changes this week, and I personally need to make some changes with myself, and then we’ll come back strong for Mt. Morris.”
Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s next race is round four of the 2013 AMA Pro Motocross Championships on June 8th at the High Point National in Mt. Morris.
2013 Muddy Creek MX 450 Results:
1. Ryan Dungey (KTM)
2. Justin Barcia (Honda)
3. Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki)
4. James Stewart (Yoshimura Suzuki)
5. Mike Alessi (Suzuki)
6. Clement Desalle (Rockstar Energy Suzuki)
7. Kevin Strijbos (Rockstar Energy Suzuki)
8. Andrew Short (KTM)
9. Trey Canard (Honda)
10. Broc Tickle (RCH Suzuki)
