Nope, not James Stewart. Trevor Stewart shocks the Big 6 troops by winning the 11th Annual Vikings Motorcycle Club Grand Prix on a 250.
Story and Photos by Mark Kariya
The dirt at the Lake Elsinore Motorsport Park in Lake Elsinore, California, is hard-packed lake-bottom clay that gets really slick when watered. Throw in a fast course, as is typical for an AMA District 37/MSR Big 6 Grand Prix Series race, and you have conditions that favor a 450cc four-stroke.
But not always. Just ask Trevor Stewart.
After getting a great start aboard his John Burr Cycles YZ250 and chasing early leader Harrison Drummond’s Beaverton (OR) Motorcycles CRF450F, Stewart took over about 30 minutes into the 90-minute $2000 AMA West Coast Grand Prix (WCGP) Series feature race, the marquee event of all Big 6 races. With the 11th Annual Vikings Motorcycle Club West Coast Grand Prix being eighth and final race of the series, it took on added importance as several championships were on the line.
“Coming into this race, I kind of had the jitters a little bit,” Stewart admitted. “I knew I was six points ahead of Nick [Stover in WCGP Pro II] coming into the last round [here and] I really wanted first of all to obviously win but to just stay ahead of Nick–that was the goal here.”
With Drummond having only the stock MX tank and two rides in the last three weeks, it was probably inevitable that he’d drop back, still ending up a creditable ninth overall and seventh in WCGP Pro.
While Stewart put down laps in front, Ox Motorsports Honda’s Colton Udall tried hard to close the gap on his Jackson Motorsports Group CRF450X, though he had to pass teammate Mark Samuels, Maxxis YZ450F-mounted Jeff Loop and Drummond first. By the time he worked into second overall, he found it impossible to get close to Stewart for the overall win, though Udall was fast enough to win his class and wrap up the WCGP Pro championship.
“I was pushing at the end,” Udall said. “I was catching him a little bit, but he deserved that. Trevor Stewart was riding awesome. I’m stoked to get the win in the big bike class and the championship.”
Racing his Flow Motorsports YZ450F for the first time at a Big 6, Blayne Thompson gambled a bit and skipped pitting just after the hour mark, which enabled him to ride pas Precision Concepts KX450F-mounted Justin Seeds, who played it safe and stopped to take on some fuel. That proved to be the difference, with Thompson second WCGP Pro and third overall, one spot better than Seeds, who settled for second in the championship as well.
With Stewart running up front, the rest of the WCGP Pro II class found their own battles, with ATV king Beau Baron showing he still remembers how to go fast on two wheels. After completing the first lap and third WCGP Pro II behind Stewart and Nick Stover, he put on a charge that saw him eventually run down a lot of competitors to claim second in class and fifth overall on his Maxxis CRF250R. Stover couldn’t quite match his pace, settling for third in class and 12th overall.
Jeff Loop, Ryan Reina, Samuels, Drummond and Mark Tilley rounded out the top 10.
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