With James Stewart still feeling his concussion, and Blake Baggett suffering a shoulder injury, the Yoshimura Suzuki team plans to stay home this weekend.
Yoshimura Suzuki has announced that it will not participate in round five of the 2016 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series as both of its team riders, James Stewart and Blake Baggett, are unfit to compete.
Stewart is still feeling the effects of the concussion that he suffered after colliding with Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey in the main event at the season-opening Anaheim Supercross on January 9, and he sat out the San Diego and Anaheim II rounds of the series before returning to round four at the O.co Coliseum in Oakland, California, last weekend. Stewart put up a valiant battle against Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac before finishing second in his heat race and earning a direct transfer to the main. He got off to a good start in the 20-lap feature, running in second place for about five laps before he began to drop back into the pack. Stewart ultimately pulled out of the race, reportedly suffering from blurred vision.
“After retiring from the race with vision problems in Oakland, we encouraged James to undergo further testing and make sure he is 100 percent healthy before returning to racing,” Yoshimura Suzuki Team Manager Mike Webb said in a statement issued by the team.
Baggett crashed in his Oakland heat race and suffered a blow to the same shoulder on which he had undergone surgery in 2014. While he ultimately made the main event and finished 15th, he will sit out Phoenix. It’s more bad luck for Baggett, who suffered a broken collarbone, broken ribs and broken scapula on December 6, 2015, while practicing for the 2016 Monster Energy Supercross Series.
“Blake took a big hit to the same shoulder he just had surgery on this past weekend,” Webb said. “Fortunately, he hasn’t re-broken the shoulder, however it is deeply bruised and at this point he only has limited range of motion. Blake is fairly confident that he should be ready to go by the following round in San Diego [February 13].”
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