James Takes Fourth in Atlanta
The 2011 AMA Supercross series officially kicked off its East Coast swing on Saturday night in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome, and James finished fourth after a chaotic night of racing.
James looked solid during the day’s timed qualifying sessions, as he joined Ryan Dungey and Chad Reed as the only three riders to post sub 47-second lap times. In Supercross Heat #2, JS7 threw down the quickest lap of the entire event on his way to a second-place finish, and thus the stage was set for an exciting showdown in the main event.
When the gates finally dropped for the Supercross-class finale, James grabbed a huge holeshot to take the early lead, and looked to be well on his way to the ATL win. A near crash in one of the Georgia Dome’s slick corners allowed rival Chad Reed to get by on lap three, however, but with time winding down, JS7 patiently reeled Reed back in and made a pass for the lead with just a lap and a half left to race. James looked to be in control when the white flag flew, but unfortunately for him Reed had different plans, and cleaned out his front end just a few turns from the checkers. James remounted quickly, but he was only able to salvage a fourth-place finish when all was said and done.
SUPERCROSS QUALIFYING HEATS
• James grabbed a top-five start to kick off Heat #2, and quickly made his way into second by the end of lap four.
• Spinning the night’s fastest lap time (45.913) in an attempt to chase down Ryan Villopoto out front, JS7 came up just a few tenths of a second short of challenging for the win, but easily qualified for the main in the second spot.
SUPERCROSS MAIN EVENT
• Stewart rocketed out of the gate to grab a massive holeshot to begin the 20-lap Atlanta main event.
• After leading the first two laps and looking to check out, JS7 pushed the front end in a slick ATL corner, allowing Chad Reed by to take over the lead. James regained momentum quickly, however, reducing the early damage.
• While pressuring to take back the lead by the midway point, James made yet another mistake, giving a couple seconds of cushion back to Reed up front.
• With three laps to go, JS7 reeled Reed back in as they battled through a slew of lappers en route to the checkers.
• James made his pass for the lead just before taking the white flag, and looked to have the win well in hand. Midway through the final go around, however, Reed came in hot on the inside, cleaning out James’ front end and taking both riders down.
• Scrambling to get back into the race, JS7 could only scrape together a fourth by the wave of the checkers.
• The incident with Reed handed first and second over to the Ryans (Villopoto and Dungey), and also cost James some valuable championship points.
The series heads south to the famed Daytona International Speedway next weekend, and James is healthy and more determined than ever to mount a charge to regain the championship points lead.
SUPERCROSS RESULTS
1. Ryan Villopoto
2. Ryan Dungey
3. Chad Reed
4. James Stewart
5. Trey Canard
6. Andrew Short
7. Justin Brayton
8. Kevin Windham
9. Ivan Tedesco
10. Brett Metcalfe
