San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart roared back to the top of the AMA Supercross podium last Saturday at the Edward Jones Dome in St Louis and ended a winless streak of eight races. The fourteenth round of the series (also an FIM World Championship) saw Stewart looking to recapture some edge and get on the box for the first time since obtaining a runner-up position in Indianapolis a month ago.
In front of almost 60,000 spectators the Floridian quickly overtook holeshotter Ivan Tedesco and never looked back, wheeling away to notch Yamaha’s seventh victory in St Louis in what was the sixteenth main event held in the city. It was the fourth triumph of the season for the former champion.
“Man, I was more emotional there than winning the championship. For me, it was just everything,” said Stewart who shed tears during the prize giving ceremony after several weeks of adversity and misfortune. “I guess the last eight weeks just started coming out of me and I just couldn’t hold it in. I was trying to. It was just special. When you can’t do right on or off the track, having my sponsors say, ‘we still stick behind you even after some losses,’ and the fans still cheering and all that; I just think it was special. And, for me, it was super-emotional.”
JGR Yamaha’s Davi Millsaps and Valli Motorsports Austin Stroupe broke into the top ten on their YZ450Fs with seventh and ninth positions respectively. In the penultimate round of the East Coast Lites Ryan Sipes took his YZ250F to second place to further consolidate his third place in the series points table.
In terms of the SX championship standings Stewart is fourth and sixteen points behind leader Ryan Villopoto who filled the bottom step of the rostrum in St Louis. With visits to Seattle, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas still to come Stewart retains a mathematical chance of lifting the 2011 crown. Millsaps is eighth, just in front of Brayton, with Nick Wey eleventh.
Seattle’s Qwest Field will host round fifteen next Saturday.
2011 AMA-SX United States
Edward Jones Dome 10/04/2011 20 Laps
race I
1 James Stewart Yamaha USA 16’13.684
2 Ryan Dungey Suzuki USA 0’03.001
3 Ryan Villopoto Kawasaki USA 0’11.117
4 Chad Reed Honda AUS 0’18.035
5 Trey Canard Honda USA 0’22.081
6 Kevin Windham Honda USA 0’36.882
7 David D Millsaps Yamaha USA 0’41.158
8 Ivan Tedesco Kawasaki USA 0’42.462
9 Austin Stroupe Yamaha USA 0’46.835
10 Andrew Short KTM USA -1Laps
11 Thomas Hahn Yamaha USA -1Laps
12 Chris Blose Kawasaki USA -1Laps
13 Nicholas Wey Yamaha USA -1Laps
14 Kyle Regal Yamaha USA -1Laps
15 Michael Byrne Suzuki AUS -1Laps
20 Weston Peick Yamaha USA -10Laps
AMA-SX World Standing
Rider Standings After Race 14 of 17
1. Ryan Villopoto Kawasaki USA 275
2. Ryan Dungey Suzuki USA 270
3. Chad Reed Honda AUS 267
4. James Stewart Yamaha USA 259
5. Trey Canard Honda USA 255
6. Andrew Short KTM USA 185
7. Kevin Windham Honda USA 165
8. David D Millsaps Yamaha USA 143
9. Justin Brayton Yamaha USA 141
10. Ivan Tedesco Kawasaki USA 127
11. Nicholas Wey Yamaha USA 120
12. Brett Metcalfe Suzuki AUS 107
13. Mike Alessi KTM USA 98
14. Chris Blose Kawasaki USA 85
15. Kyle Regal Yamaha USA 72
16. Fabien Izoird Kawasaki FRA 55
17. Austin Stroupe Yamaha USA 54
20. Kyle Chisholm Yamaha USA 46
21. Weston Peick Yamaha USA 45
22. Thomas Hahn Yamaha USA 41
27. Vince Friese Yamaha USA 12
36. Jeff Alessi Yamaha USA 3
37. Antonio Balbi Yamaha BRA 2
Crowd:
59, 518
Weather:
Dry
Lap Record:
0’50.947
(Chad Reed, 2/18/2006)
Last Years Winner:
Ryan Dungey
Manufacturer Standings
10/04/2011
1 Honda 300
2 Kawasaki 290
3 Yamaha 285
4 Suzuki 281
5 KTM 195
