Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart passes Ricky Carmichael for second on the all-time Supercross winner’s list with a thrilling come-from-behind finish at Roger Centre in Toronto.
In response to a question about both his conditioning and his resolve during the Monster Energy AMA Supercross season-opening press conference at the Anaheim I Supercross back in January, Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart flatly responded, “I’m a good racer.”
Well, not that he needed to, but Stewart proved it tonight when he took his fourth win of the season and the 49th 450cc Supercross win of his career during round 12 of the series at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada. The 28-year-old, two-time AMA Supercross Chanpion also vaulted past the great Ricky Carmichael to take sole possession of second place on the all-time AMA Supercross Series winner’s list, with 49 wins.
But it wasn’t just that he won the main event at the only Supercross stop of the year in Canada, at the home of Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays, it was how he won it. Stewart put on a come-from-behind charge that was reniniscient of the performance for which all-time Supercross king Jeremy McGrath was famous during his most dominant days in the mid-1990s.
Stewart was mired deep in the pack after the 22-rider field rounded the first turn. Red Bull KTM’s Ken Roczen grabbed the holeshot and battled with Muscle Milk Honda’s Justin Barcia for the lead, the pair followed by Joe Gibbs Racing Yamaha’s Justin Brayton.
Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto was fourth in the early going, but the three-time and defending series champion was under the weather as an undisclosed illness had seen him taken to the hospital earlier in the day. Vllopoto missed qualifying and had to use a provisional start to make the heat races. He transferred through to the main event, but he would not be a contender for the win as the main progressed. Villopoto’s best hope was to mitigate the damage to his healthy series points lead.
Stewart was already on the charge, moving inside the top 10 by the end of lap two, and he was up to sixth by lap five. Barcia, meanwhile, had taken the lead away from Roczen, and Dungey was past Brayton and into third place by lap seven. Stewart was cutting the fastest laps of any rider on the track, and he passed Brayton one lap later and charged after Dungey. Stewart needed five more laps to catch Dungey for third place, but by then the pair had begun to close in on Roczen.
Stewart executed a brilliant pass on Dungey through a rhythm section and pulled away from the 2010 series champ in pursuit of the rookie Roczen. Stewart blitzed past Roczen through the whoops for second place with seven laps to go, giving him plenty of time to catch Barcia. Showing remarkable composure, Stewart change up his line through a whoop section and snatched the lead away from Barcia, who had no answer for him. Stewart then pulled away and rode the final five laps unchallenged to claim his fourth win—the most of any rider this season.
“I passed so many people I don’t remember what I [start] I got, but the last time I did something like that it was Anaheim I,” Stewart said. “I was going next to Ken [Roczen] through the whoops, and I was like, ‘Please don’t swap out.’ I just have to give my team a lot of credit. We had an issue in the heat race, and we got my bike dialed-in, and we came out and got it done.”
Stewart is now in sole possession of second place on the all-time AMA Supercross winner’s list, with 49 wins. Only seven-time champion Jeremy McGrath has more, with 72 wins.
“That race was tough,” Stewart continued. “There was a lot of energy out there. I’m so happy. To break Ricky’s record and do it like that—he’s such a legend and…Man, that says a lot.”
With his goal of passing Carmichael’s career Supercross win total now complete, Stewart was asked if the championship itself was back on his mind.
“Nope,” he responded. “[I will] try to win. Ryan [Villopoto], you’ve got to give that guy a lot of credit, coming out here straight from the hospital. I’ve done that a few times. He fought. He did what he could do. I don’t know what place he got. All I can do is try to win and go from there.”
Barcia held on for second place, earning just his second podium spot of the season. Even so, he was pleased with his own performance.
“It was a good performance, good heat race, good main event,” Barcia said. “It was a tough night of racing. James Stewart rode really good. You can’t take anything away from him. He just was a little bit faster all night. I’ve made a lot of changes lately in the way I’ve been racing. I feel good, and everyone around me has been helping a lot, keeping me strong. I’ve had a lot of bad results, so this feels good.”
After passing Roczen for third place, Dungey also did what he set out to do, beating Villopoto to the finish line to gain some ground back in the championship points chase after Villopoto gamely hung on for sixth place, behind Roczen and the steady-riding Brayton. Weston Peick, Dean Wilson, Josh Hill and Matt Goerke completed the top 10 finishers.
“I think we had it, just, you know, James was riding really good,” Dungey said. “We slowly came up on the guys in the front. Them starts are going to be key, but we’re just taking it one race at a time. We got a little gift tonight. I’m glad Villopoto is not out. I never really heard what happened, but we’ll take it and keep moving forward. There’s a lot of racing left. Winning also helps too.”
Perhaps no one outside of the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team had expected the kind of dominance that squad has enjoyed, with Pro Circuit riders standing atop the box in each of the first five rounds of AMA Eastern Region 250cc Supercross competition, but GEICO Honda’s Justin Bogle finally put an end to it. Bogle earned a convincing win in the 15-lap 250cc main event in Toronto, taking the holeshot and leading every lap to score his first career 250cc Supercross win.
Not only that, but there was reason for the Kawasaki team to be concerned after its red hot-riding rookie, Adam Cianciarulo suffered a shoulder in a crash earlier in the day and was still feeling the effects of that crash when the main event left the starting line. Cianciarulo rode bravely, running in second place early, but he was forced to stop at one point in the main event to have the Asterisl Mobile Medical team pop the shoulder back into place. He remounted his machine and tried to press onward, but he was forced to drop out of the race and was credited with last place. Even worse for the PC team, Daytona Supercross winner Blake Baggett also crashed out of the race while running in fourth place and was unable to continue because his throttle was ripped off in the crash.
Up front, Bogle simply cruised, finishing 3.02 seconds ahead of Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Martin Davalos, who finished second another 3.9 seconds ahead of surprise heat race winner Matt Lemoine on the JAB Motorsports/Silkolene Kawasaki.
“The start was everything,” Bogle said. “It has been everything every round, but I just put myself in a bad spot off those. But I finally got a holeshot, so that’s awesome. I need to cut my trophy in half and give half of it to my trainer. He has been the biggest part of not only my program but my life as well.
With five podium finishes in six Eastern Region rounds, Davalos’ consistency, along with Cianciarulo’s bad luck, vaulted Davalos back into the series points lead with just two rounds remaining.
“I’m very lucky I’m racing,” Davalos said. “I had a really bad crash in practice, and obviously last weekend was really tough for me. I feel like I rode great. I was putting the pressure on Justin, but he was riding very well. I made a mistake and I fell down, but I was able to recoup to second place. The track was tough tonight. It got really rutted and the whoops got really challenging for me. Like I said, I’m happy I came in second place, and I am ready to go racing again.”
Lemoine said that the difference for him tonight was “riding strong and believing I could do it tonight. Tonight is the first night that I felt so good during the week and came into the race, and I just knew I had it. I just had to put it all together. Finally! It’s about time. I got so many fourth places, and its sucks being down there and not up here [on the podium]. Now we’ve got some momentum going, and hopefully next weekend we can stay back up here and finish out the East Coast like this.”
The Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series heads back across the border to the United States next weekend for round 13 at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Missouri.
Rogers Centre
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Results: March 22, 2014 (Round 12 of 17)
450 Main
1. James Stewart-Suz
2. Justin Barcia-Hon
3. Ryan Dungey-KTM
4. Justin Brayton-Yam
5. Ken Roczen-KTM
6. Ryan Villopoto-Kaw
7. Weston Peick-Suz
8. Dean Wilson-Kaw
9. Josh Hill-Suz
10. Matt Goerke-KTM
11. Andrew Short-KTM
12. Nick Wey-Kaw
13. Jimmy Albertson-Hon
14. Wil Hahn-Hon
15. Cody Gilmore-Kaw
16. Nicholas Schmidt-Hon
17. Ronnie Stewart-Suz
18. Adam Enticknap-Hon
19. Mike Alessi-Suz
20. Preston Mull-Yam
21. Daniel Meynet-Kaw
22. Ivan Tedesco-KTM
Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series Points Standings (After 12 of 17 rounds)
1. Ryan Villopoto-246/3 wins
2. Ryan Dungey-221/1 win
3. James Stewart-207/4 wins
4. Ken Roczen-197/2 wins
5. Justin Brayton-185
6. Justin Barcia-156
7. Andrew Short-153
8. Broc Tickle-126
9. Wil Hahn-122
10. Chad Reed-111/2 wins
250 Main
1. Justin Bogle-Hon
2. Martin Davalos-Kaw
3. Matt Lemoine-Kaw
4. Jeremy Martin-Yam
5. Cole Thompson-KTM
6. Vince Friese-Hon
7. Alex Martin-Yam
8. Kyle Cunningham-Hon
9. AJ Catanzaro-Hon
10. Jimmy Decotis-Hon
11. Jackson Richardson-Hon
12. Matt Bisceglia-Hon
13. Landen Powell-KTM
14. Levi Kilbarger-Hon
15. Jesse Wentland-Hon
16. Brad Nauditt-Hon
17. Taylor Potter-Hon
18. Gannon Audette-Kaw
19. Ryan Zimmer-Hon
20. Blake Baggett-Kaw
21. Kyle Peters-Hon
22. Adam Cianciarulo-Kaw
AMA 250cc Eastern Region Supercross Series Points Standings (After 6 of 8 rounds)
1. Martin Davalos-109/1 win
2. Justin Bogle-97/1 win
3. Adam Cianciarulo-95/3 wins
4. Blake Baggett-80/1 win
5. Vince Friese-76
6. Cole Thompson-64
7. Kyle Cunningham-58
8. Matt Lemoine-57
9. Jimmy Decotis-54
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