James Stewart wins in San Diego!!!
James Stewart got his first bite of the season in San Diego. He managed to keep the leader in the standings Ryan Villopoto behind him during the final of about twenty laps. For third place there was a bit more to experience and it was “Rookie” Roczen who took the final podium place. In the Lites it was Justin Hill who caused the surprise and won his very first supercross of his career. But here too there was a Stewart on the podium, namely Malcolm Stewart with a third place. So it was a party for the Stewart family at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium.
SX450
It was Andrew Short who took the holeshot ahead of Villopoto, Reed, Stewart and Roczen. On the first lap we immediately had a battle between Villopoto and Stewart for the lead. But it was James Stewart who came out on top and claimed the lead. With Stewart in the lead ahead of Villopoto, Reed, Roczen, Barcia and Dungey we once again had a nice leading group. It was Roczen who made the first change, at the beginning of the eighth lap Roczen dove inside Reed and ended up in third place. Justin Barcia, who was in fifth place, made a mistake one lap later and Dungey gratefully took advantage of that. James Stewart certainly seemed to have the race under control and thus kept Villopoto within a few seconds. Behind Villopoto's back, something was happening with Roczen, Reed and Dungey. In the very last round we had a duel for the last podium place. Ryan Dungey immediately launched an attack on Reed at the start of this final lap. But the experienced rat like Chad Reed managed to absorb that and in turn immediately attacked Roczen's position. Chad Reed rode over the whoops a little faster than Roczen and hit the rear wheel of the KTM and fell. Dungey was just able to avoid the fallen Reed and would eventually finish fourth. Reed required medical assistance and did not cross the finish line but was classified twelfth. James Stewart made no mistakes this time and rode to his first victory of the season. Villopoto finished second and Ken Roczen managed to keep his teammate Dungey behind him for third place.
450SX – San Diego
1. J. Stewart
2. R. Villopoto
3. K. Roczen
4. R Dungey
5. W. Peick
6. J. Barcia
7. E. Tomac
8. B. Tickle
9. J. Brayton
10. A. Short
11. J. Hill
12. C. Reed
13. I. German
14. M. Alessi
15. M. Goerke
16. V. Frisian
17. N. Way
18. K. Chisholm
19. J. Decotis
20. P. Nicoletti
21. C. Blose
22. M. Moss
Standings after 6 races:
1. Ryan Villopoto, Kawasaki, 126
2. Ken Roczen, KTM, 117
3. Chad Reed, Kawasaki, 111
4. James Stewart, Suzuki, 105
5. Justin Brayton, Yamaha, 98
6. Ryan Dungey, KTM, 94
7. Justin Barcia, Honda, 89
8. Andrew Short, KTM, 72
9. Weston Peick, Suzuki, 53
10. Wil Hahn, Honda, 52
SX250
Dean Wilson grabbed the holeshot ahead of Malcolm Stewart. But at the end of the second round things went wrong for Wilson. He crashed just before the finish and had to return to the pits a little later with technical problems. This immediately gave us a new leader, namely Justin Hill with Stewart in his wake. The two title candidates Jason Anderson and Cole Seely were also in third and fourth place. Just before the halfway point of the race, Anderson took over second place from Stewart. Justin Hill had already been able to take a nice lead over his closest pursuers. So he had everything under control and took his very first supercross victory of his career in the SX250 class. Behind Hill, Anderson crossed the finish line in second and we got Stewart in third place. Cole Seely finished fourth and had to give up some points to the leader in the standings Jason Anderson. Dean Ferris eventually finished tenth and the Frenchman Valentin Teillet finished sixteenth.
250SX – San Diego
1. J. Hill
2. J. Anderson
3. M. Stewart
4. C. Seely
5. S. McElrath
6. J. Nelson
7. M. Leib
8. S. Champion
9. J. Canada
10. D. Ferris
11. D. Tedder
12. P. Mull
13. Z. Freeberg
14. C. Webb
15. R. Alanis
16. V. You do
17. T. Ingalls
18. J. Brown
19. C. Howell
20. B. Scharer
21. D. Wilson
22. M. Horban
Standings after 6 races:
1. Jason Anderson, KTM, 131
2. Cole Seely, Honda, 127
3. Justin Hill, Kawasaki, 107
4. Dean Wilson, Kawasaki, 98
5. Cooper Webb, Yamaha, 92
6. Malcolm Stewart, Honda, 89
7. Jessy Nelson, Honda, 76
8. Shane McElrath, Honda, 71
9. Zach Osborne, Honda, 69
10. Dean Ferris, KTM, 63
Photo: Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Team / GuyB
Text: @Kris…
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