Stewart opens 2011 campaign with 3rd at Anaheim

The 2011 AMA Supercross series (also an FIM World Championship) got underway in front of a capacity crowd at the Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Los Angeles on Saturday with Yamaha LandM San Manuel rider James Stewart taking third position on his YZ450F. The 25 year old Floridian was competing in his first Main Event for almost a year and the 2009 champion needed to exercise patience and caution in recovering from a mid-pack start to work his way onto the podium. “There were only two spots on the track where you could do it [overtake] and I was just trying to make sure I made clean passes,” he said. “You know, it’s hard; you get in one side of the track and just follow all the way from the sand section until you get back through the whoops. Overall I’m happy though. Coming from 17th to third, I think that’s pretty good and lets me know that I still have the speed. Get a couple good starts and I think we’ll be right there.”

While Stewart needed half of the twenty laps to reach the leading group and was then unable to shut-down the four-five second gap to defending number one Ryan Dungey and winner Ryan Villopoto other Yamaha riders such as Kyle Chisholm and Nick Wey found the difficult track even harder going as they placed 11th and 12th respectively. Stewart’s new team-mate, Kyle Regal, was 13th. Nick Paluzzi was the highest runner on the YZ250F with ninth place in the first round of the West Coast SX Lites. The second round of seventeen in the thrilling indoor-racing spectacle takes place next Saturday at Chase Field in Phoenix.

2011 AMA-SX United States Angel Stadium 10/01/2011 20 Laps 1 Ryan Villopoto Kawasaki USA 19'55.986 2 Ryan Dungey Suzuki USA 0'03.671 3 James Stewart Yamaha USA 0'05.700 4 Trey Canard Honda USA 0'09.832 5 Chad Reed Honda AUS 0'27.453 6 Kevin Windham Honda USA 0'32.742 7 Ivan Tedesco Kawasaki USA 0'37.591 8 Brett Metcalfe Suzuki AUS 0'45.981 9 Josh Grant Honda USA 0'49.902 10 Andrew Short KTM USA 0'54.349 11 Kyle Chisholm Yamaha USA 0'58.861 12 Nicholas Wey Yamaha USA -1Laps 13 Kyle Regal Yamaha USA -1Laps 14 Mike Alessi KTM USA -1Laps 15 Jason Thomas Suzuki USA -1Laps 16 Justin Brayton Yamaha USA -1Laps 19 David D Millsaps Yamaha USA -2Laps 20 Thomas Hahn Yamaha USA -17Laps AMA-SX World Standing Rider Standings After Race 1 of 17 1. Ryan Villopoto Kawasaki USA 25 2. Ryan Dungey Suzuki USA 22 3. James Stewart Yamaha USA 20 4. Trey Canard Honda USA 18 5. Chad Reed Honda AUS 16 6. Kevin Windham Honda USA 15 7. Ivan Tedesco Kawasaki USA 14 8. Brett Metcalfe Suzuki AUS 13 9. Josh Grant Honda USA 12 10. Andrew Short KTM USA 11 11. Kyle Chisholm Yamaha USA 10 12. Nicholas Wey Yamaha USA 9 13. Kyle Regal Yamaha USA 8 14. Mike Alessi KTM USA 7 15. Jason Thomas Suzuki USA 6 16. Justin Brayton Yamaha USA 5 19. David D Millsaps Yamaha USA 2 20. Thomas Hahn Yamaha USA 1				Crowd: 45,000 Weather: Dry Lap Record: 0'44.601 (Ricky Carmichael , 01/01/2006) Last Years Winner: Ryan Dungey Manufacturer Standings 10/01/2011 1 Kawasaki 25 2 Suzuki 22 3 Yamaha 20 4 Honda 18 5 KTM 11