Yamaha Report
Yamaha rider James Stewart has won the 2009 AMA SX Championship (also an FIM world championship) thanks to third position taken at the seventeenth and last round of the series in front of almost 40,000 spectators at the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. The 23 year old claimed his second SX title and the sixth of his career while successfully defending Yamaha’s crown in the premier class.
The 19th Supercross event to take place in Las Vegas saw a tense final face-off between points-leader Stewart and defending number one Chad Reed; the pair had been trading places at the top of the standings throughout the campaign. Stewart carried a six point advantage and could afford to ride conservatively and within distance of Reed. He led for the opening laps of the Main Event but relinquished control to Ryan Villopoto and then withstood close pressure from Reed, no doubt hoping to force a mistake, before settling for third behind the Australian and confirming the championship by just four points.
“I might not have ridden the best tonight, but I did what I had to do, and I’m so happy,” said Stewart who had previously won in both classes at Las Vegas and managed to stretch his career tally of wins to 36 through his efforts in 2009. “It’s so emotional. There is so much hard work that went into this, and honestly I’m exhausted right now because it’s been the toughest year for me. Every race this year, I’ve had to win, and that’s hard mentally. I don’t think anybody’s ever been in a situation where they had to win every race. Chad has been on the podium 16 out of 17 races this year, so I had to win after Anaheim I, and then after Daytona. It pays off to have a great team, a great trainer, and a great supporting cast. I’m so happy.”
2009 was the first season for the Floridian on the YZ450F and he already forged a milestone by becoming the first rider to give Yamaha 11 victories in one term (an achievement not even seen in the dominant era of Jeremy McGrath, although ’09 was only the sixth season since the inception of the sport in 1974 in which the calendar stretched to 17 rounds). Stewart only finished off the podium twice and his DNF at Anaheim for round one was the sole blight on his scorecard.
“I’ve said it before, but I don’t care if I win by 100 points or one point, I won it, and I don’t care what anybody says,” he added. “I won this championship, and my team won this championship, and I won it fair and square. I had the most race wins, and I had the most points. I won’t take anything away from Chad. Hat’s off to him, he rode great this year, but the number-one plate’s mine now.”
— Reed Report
After one of the most enthralling seasons in the history of the AMA/World Supercross Series Australia’s two-time World Supercross Champion Chad Reed has claimed a second place round result and unfortunately surrendered his World Championship title at the final round of the 2009 season at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas tonight.
Reed, whose race at Salt Lake City last weekend was controversially impeded by the teammate of Championship rival James Stewart, went into the final round of the series at Las Vegas trailing Stewart by 6 points.
The defending Champion looked well prepared for the title fight with a strong ride in practice before dominating his heat race, claiming the holeshot and taking the win by a margin of over 12 seconds to his closest rival.
As the 20-lap Supercross ‘Main Event’ launched out of the start gates, Reed lost traction off the gate and exited the first turn in seventh place before passing four riders to move into third position at the completion of lap one. Stewart had the lead, but Kawasaki rider Ryan Villopoto stayed close and brought the 39,000 strong crowd to its feet when he passed Stewart on lap two to take the lead.
Behind him, Reed inched in on his nemesis Stewart, setting the stage for a memorable moment between the bitter rivals. Riding a calculated race the Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider stalked Stewart, applying constant pressure in an effort to force him into making a mistake. Reed eventually moved past Stewart on lap 15 and it wasn’t long before he had pulled an incredible 20 second gap on his arch rival.
Unfortunately the opportunity to catch Villopoto, who had ridden for 19 laps without challenge, had passed and Reed crossed the finish line for his 12th second place of 2009 with Stewart 19.6 seconds behind in third.
“I gave it everything I had,” explained Reed. “I can walk away knowing I did that. We had a great season back and forth and were really consistent which kept us in (the title fight). I want to come back even harder and get it back next year. James had a great season and rode really well and I can’t take that away from him.”
“It’s a long season racing back-to-back, week-after-week when every point counts. It is exhausting for not only the riders but more so the teams and my Rockstar Makita Suzuki guys have worked so hard for me this year. Despite being a new combination we were in the running for the championship till the very end and I am so grateful to be with them.”
Reed will depart the US tomorrow night for his native Australia where he will enjoy a well earned holiday and will also put the final touches on preparations for the Australian Super X series, which will be contested at major venues across the country again in 2009. Reed, who is a major shareholder in the series, will compete in all rounds.
“I’m looking forward to heading home to Australia for a holiday before I start preparing for the next challenge,” he concluded.
— Pictorial – Image Gallery from Daytona Supercross
| AMA Supercross Results, St Louis 1. Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki 2. Chad Reed, Suzuki, 8 secs 3. James Stewart, Yamaha, 28 secs 4. Kevin Windham, Honda, 35 secs 5. Ivan Tedesco, Honda, 43 secs 6. Mike Alessi, Suzuki, 55 secs 7. Josh Grant, Yamaha, 60 secs 8. Andrew Short, Honda 9. Nathan Ramsey, Yamaha 10. Davi Millsaps, Honda |
AMA SX Standings 1. James Stewart, Yamaha, 377 2. Chad Reed, Suzuki 373 3. Andrew Short, Honda, 270 4. Josh Grant, Yamaha, 237 5. Kevin Windham, Honda, 236 6. Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki, 233 7. Ivan Tedesco, Honda, 226 8. Davi Millsaps, Honda, 219 9. Mike Alessi, Suzuki, 218 10. Josh Hill, Yamaha, 146 |
| AMA SX Lites 1. C Pourcel, Kawasaki 2. R Dungey, Suzuki, 0.4 secs 3. T Canard, Honda, 3.5 secs 4. Jake Weimer, Kawasaki, 18.7 secs 5. Austin Stroupe, Kawasaki, 21.4 secs 6. Ryan Morais, Kawasaki, 30 secs 7. Justin Brayton, KTM, 35 secs 8. Jake Moss, Honda, 52 secs 9. Wil Hahn, KTM, 52 secs 10. Broc Tickle, Yamaha, 54 secs |
