Fantastic Stewart takes fourth win

The fifth round of seventeen in the 2009 AMA Supercross Championship (also an FIM World series) in San Francisco was owned by LandM San Manuel rider James Stewart with his YZ450F for the fourth time this season and for the fourth meeting in a row. The 23 year old has soared up the standings since his unlucky DNF at the opening event and now lies a clear second and just six points behind Chad Reed.   Stewart - who had previously won in Los Angeles, Houston and Phoenix - rode the perfect race after acing the holeshot around the first corner of the open-air AtandT Park stadium. He was able to pull away and beat Reed by almost five seconds by the chequered flag. The main event was the seventh to be held in the picturesque city and was the third victory for Yamaha.   "I'm starting to feel like my old self and I've just been training as hard as I can. Right now it's showing, and we'll see what happens. It has definitely been better the last couple of weeks than in weeks past, so we'll see what happens," said Stewart who increased his career win haul to 29. "We're going to Anaheim soon and we're just going to have to try to keep it going. We're still six points back and there's still a long way to go."   Joe Gibbs Racing's Josh Grant maintained his 100% record of top five positions in each event. The 2009 rookie is having an impressive campaign to-date and added 4th place in San Francisco to his tally of 1st, 3rd, 5th and 5th. Grant is third in the table, seven points behind his brand-mate.   Stewart will be looking to gain further points over Reed and possibly seize control of the championship for the first time this year at Anaheim (for the third and final visit) in Los Angeles next weekend.     Race 1 - 20 Laps                   Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Total Time   1, James Stewart, Yamaha, USA, 16'46.443 2, Chad Reed, Suzuki, AUS, 0'4.528 3, Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki, USA, 0'7.561 4, Josh Grant, Yamaha, USA, 0'15.112 5, Andrew Short, Honda, USA, 0'17.309 6, Kevin Windham, Honda, USA, 0'20.361 7, Josh Hill, Yamaha, USA, 0'25.242 8, David D Millsaps, Honda, USA, 0'27.586 9, Mike Alessi, Suzuki, USA, 0'31.450 10, Ivan Tedesco, Honda, USA, 0'43.354 11, Heath Voss, Honda, USA, -1 Laps 12, Benjamin Coisy, Honda, FRA, -1 Laps 13, Cole Siebler, Honda, USA, -1 Laps 14, Kyle Chisholm, Yamaha, USA, -1 Laps 15, Daniel McCoy, Honda, USA, -1 Laps 16, Tyler Bowers, Honda, USA, -1 Laps 17, Josh Hansen, Honda, USA, -1 Laps 18, Troy Adams, Honda, USA, -2 Laps 19, Paul Carpenter, Kawasaki, USA, -11 Laps 20, Steve Boniface, Honda, FRA, -14 Laps     Rider Standings 31/01/2009   Pos., Rider, Manu., Nat., Points 1, Chad Reed, Suzuki, AUS, 108 2, James Stewart, Yamaha, USA, 102 3, Josh Grant, Yamaha, USA, 95 4, Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki, USA, 88 5, Andrew Short, Honda, USA, 87 6, Ivan Tedesco, Honda, USA, 73 7, Kevin Windham, Honda, USA, 68 8, Mike Alessi, Suzuki, USA, 58 9, Tim Ferry, Kawasaki, USA, 56 10, David D Millsaps, Honda, USA, 55 11, Josh Hill, Yamaha, USA, 51 12, Heath Voss, Honda, USA, 40 13, Paul Carpenter, Kawasaki, USA, 39 14, Benjamin Coisy, Honda, FRA, 31 15, Nicholas Wey, Yamaha, USA, 26       Manufacturer Standings 31/01/2009   Pos., Manufacturer, Points   1, Yamaha, 125 2, Suzuki, 108 3, Honda, 94 4, Kawasaki, 90 5, KTM, 13