Stewart close to title after penultimate win

Yamaha's James Stewart stands on the brink of capturing the 2009 AMA Supercross and FIM World Championships after clinching his eleventh win of the season and the thirty-sixth of his career at the Rice-Eccles Stadium and watched by 40,612 spectators in Salt Lake City for the penultimate round of the campaign. The 23 year old guided his YZ450F - a motorcycle that has owned 12 of the 16 races run thus far - to the chequered flag ahead of main title rival Chad Reed and now holds a 6 point advantage with just one meeting remaining. Stewart became the first rider to give Yamaha eleven victories in a season and have increased the manufacturer's total to 67 triumphs since the turn of the century, more than a third more than their nearest competitor. "My biggest thing is just to try to stay away from the drama because at the end of the day, you want to race a guy and go to sleep knowing that you raced him as hard as you could, and clean, and didn't take anybody out," said Stewart on the tense situation between himself and Reed. "He wanted to win tonight, and I wanted to win tonight, and I think I just got lucky enough and I was able to pull it off, so I feel great," added the LandM San Manuel rider who won the sixth main event to take place in Utah and became the first rider to gain victories in both classes at the venue. Stewart dealt Reed a swift blow as the reigning champion gained the holeshot but was unable to sprint away from the challenger. With half the Main Event gone, Stewart pounced for the lead and defeated the Australian in a straight shoot-out. Joe Gibbs Racing's Josh Grant was sixth and now stands a good chance of confirming 4th place in the championship thanks to a 5 point gap over Kevin Windham. The season curtain closer will fittingly take place on a spectacular stage with the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas hosting round seventeen this weekend. Circuit Length: NA Crowd: 40,612 Weather: Dry 2009 AMA-SX Salt Lake City, UT 27/04/2009 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Total Time 1     James Stewart     Yamaha     USA     17'39.037 2     Chad Reed     Suzuki     AUS     0'03.732 3     David D Millsaps     Honda     USA     0'31.107 4     Ryan Villopoto     Kawasaki     USA     0'35.629 5     Andrew Short     Honda     USA     0'42.756 6     Josh Grant     Yamaha     USA     0'46.607 7     Kevin Windham     Honda     USA     0'50.524 8     Matt Boni     Honda     USA     0'51.605 9     Thomas Hahn     Kawasaki     USA     0'54.277 10     Ivan Tedesco     Honda     USA     0'55.365 11     Paul Carpenter     Kawasaki     USA     -1Laps 12     Nicholas Wey     Yamaha     USA     -1Laps 13     Billy Laninovich     Kawasaki     USA     -1Laps 14     Heath Voss     Honda     USA     -1Laps 15     Broc Hepler     Yamaha     USA     -1Laps 20     Kyle Chisholm     Yamaha     USA     -20Laps Rider Standings     25/04/2009 Pos.     Rider     Manu.     Nat.     Points 1.    James Stewart    Yamaha    USA    357 2.    Chad Reed    Suzuki    AUS    351 3.    Andrew Short    Honda    USA    257 4.    Josh Grant    Yamaha    USA    223 5.    Kevin Windham    Honda    USA    218 6.    Ivan Tedesco    Honda    USA    210 7.    David D Millsaps    Honda    USA    208 8.    Ryan Villopoto    Kawasaki    USA    208 9.    Mike Alessi    Suzuki    USA    203 10.    Josh Hill    Yamaha    USA    146 11.    Heath Voss    Honda    USA    102 12.    Tim Ferry    Kawasaki    USA    100 13.    Matt Boni    Honda    USA    96 14.    Nicholas Wey    Yamaha    USA    89 15.    Paul Carpenter    Kawasaki    USA    88 16.    Kyle Chisholm    Yamaha    USA    80 17.    Broc Hepler    Yamaha    USA    76 20.    Jason Lawrence    Yamaha    USA    43 31.    Nathan Ramsey    Yamaha    USA    15 38.    Sean Hamblin    Yamaha    USA    3 Manufacturer Standings     25/04/2009 Pos.     Manufacturer     Points 1.    Yamaha    388 2.    Suzuki    355 3.    Honda    300 4.    Kawasaki    253 5.    KTM    73