Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s James Stewart celebrated what might have been the most-spectacular ride of his career at round 12 of the 2014 AMA/ FIM World Supercross Championship at Canada’s Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario on Saturday night.
The Yoshimura Suzuki rider turned in a brilliant performance, overcoming a lacklustre start and blasting through the field on his Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 to capture his 49th career Supercross victory. This feat moved Stewart ahead of former Suzuki rider Ricky Carmichael into second place on the premier class’ all-time wins list.
Stewart came into Toronto having won there in 2005 and 2009, and he was eager to pick up another victory: After turning the fastest lap-time in the day’s practice sessions, he went out and holeshot his heat race and led all six laps to take his eighth heat race-win of the season.
In the 20-lap Main Event, however, Stewart suffered a poor start and was outside the top 10 at the end of lap one. But proving his mettle once again, he pushed his Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 to its very limits and charged through the field to a podium position. But that wasn’t enough for the championship-winning rider, who went on to pick-off second place and then claim the lead and the win.
This result marks Stewart’s fourth win of 2014 and his second set of back-to-back wins this season. Additionally, Yoshimura Suzuki’s Stewart leads the field in the overall number of laps led, as well as heat race and Main Event wins for the year.
Yoshimura Suzuki pilot James Stewart said there was an issue in the heat race which Stewart reported back and the team then “straight-up fixed it so I was able to come back out for the Main Event but I got a horrible start.”
Stewart thought he didn’t have a chance to win and was “just trying to get-up and gain a few points,” but like a true champion he kept it pinned. “…I just kept going, going, going and the next thing you know, I was in third. I was catching the leaders and making passes and I was able to get up in the lead,” added Stewart, 28.
Stewart has now broken Ricky Carmichael’s record with an immense total of 49 sx career wins with only the great Jeremy McGrath now above him. Stewart said about the record: “…for me, to break Ricky Carmichael’s record with a ride like that, it was pretty awesome.”
Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s next event is the 13th round of the 2014 AMA/ FIM World Supercross Championship on Saturday, March 29 at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
Video: James Stewart 14th to first – 2014 Monster Energy AMA Supercross from Toronto
