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.
