Round 13 of the 2013 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championships at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas on Saturday night was not the best of races for Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s James Stewart.
Returning from a two-week break, where Stewart and the Yoshimura Suzuki team focused on preparing for the 2013 AMA Pro Motocross season, Stewart got a decent start in his eight lap heat race and moved quickly into third position. Unfortunately, a red flag was thrown on lap two and the race was restarted in staggered formation with Stewart in third. After the re-start, the Yoshimura Suzuki rider quickly manoeuvred into second. Although he ran a little off course at one point and landed on a tuff block, he held on to finish second.
Said Stewart: “In the heat race, I was riding pretty good and somebody went down. Whenever you see a red flag you know someone has gone down and that sucks. So we restarted and I was riding really good, we were starting to close in on the leader, but I jumped on one of the hay bales and that bent my shifter. I could’ve pushed it but I decided not to take any chances.”
In the 20 lap Main Event Stewart overcame a poor start with smooth yet aggressive riding and moved into fourth position. Biding his time, the Yoshimura Suzuki rider stalked third place and then took over the position at the mid-way point of the event. Unfortunately, shortly after, he went down and damaged his front wheel and was unable to finish the race.
“The Main Event didn’t go like we hoped it would,” added Stewart. “I didn’t get a good start but I made some great passes and made my way up. I was in third and we were going at it pretty good. But I ended up washing-out the front end and I jacked up my front wheel. Overall, we made some great progress with the Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 and it was running great. It was the fastest bike out there in the whoops. These weren’t the best results, but we worked great together as a team and that’s what counts. Now we’re just looking forward to racing at Minneapolis next weekend and testing for Motocross.”
Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s next event is the 14th round of the 2013 AMA Supercross Championship on Saturday, April 13 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
