Yet another crash and injury to Kawasaki’s James Stewart at the final, Las Vegas round of the AMA Supercross series last weekend makes you wonder whether he will prove durable enough to contest the entire 250 Outdoor Motocross series that is about to begin in Sacramento, California.
The injury suffered by Stewart in Las Vegas was minor, thankfully. A sprained thumb that led Kawasaki and Stewart to reason he should remain out of the evening’s racing festivities (he suffered the injury in his heat race). Stewart should be ready for the opener at Hangtown in a couple of weeks.
Unfortunately for Stewart and Kawasaki, Stewart’s supercross series was consistent with many predictions. Those predictions went something like this. He would be very fast and win races (he was, and he did). He would crash a lot and maybe get injured (he did, and he did).
If the same pattern repeats itself outdoors, where the speeds are much higher than on a supercross track, Stewart is destined to lose lots of points sitting on the sidelines injured.
Stewart can be faster than both Ricky Carmichael and Chad Reed. He has proven that. What he has not proven is whether he can consistently finish races while riding that pace. That question remains for the Outdoors series, and is reinforced by what happened in Vegas.
If Stewart follows Carmichael’s precedent, his crashing will be confined to the supercross track, however. Carmichael crashed his brains out when he first raced a 250 in AMA Supercross, but Carmichael immediately won the championship outdoors when he switched to the 250cc class, and hasn’t lost an outdoor championship, yet. One difference is that Stewart will start the Outdoor series on a 250cc two-stroke in an era where 450cc four-stroke bikes have begun dominating outdoors. If this puts Stewart at an equipment disadvantage, it will add to the pressure he feels in his first full year in the 250 class.
