A SEVEN FOR 7 IN PHOENIX
It was a long week for James between the A1 series opener and round number two in Phoenix—one in which he was unable to ride and train in his usual fashion. Thanks to the bum knee suffered during practice at Anaheim, James was forced to stay off the bike until the first session on Saturday afternoon inside Chase Field, but still managed to drop the quickest lap time of all the 450s.
“I’m surprised those guys gave it to me,” James commented when he got back to the truck. “I felt okay out there, but didn’t think I was quite on that pace. We’ll see what we’ve got for ‘em come race time.”
When the gate dropped for the second 450 heat of the night, James rocketed into the lead aboard his Red Bull-backed Yoshimura Suzuki and never looked back. Eight smooth and steady laps was all it took to own the heat, and James was stoked to move straight into the main without a hitch.
“That’s what it’s going to take tonight… A good start, and you gotta stay out of trouble. Hopefully we can run somewhere up toward the front and continue collecting points while I sort my knee out.”
Despite spinning out of the gate and getting pulled down the start straight, James dove to the inside of turn one to charge his way into the eighth spot early on in the 450SX main event. Working his way up as high as sixth during the first half of the race, JS7 eventually settled into the seventh spot where he’d later cross the checkers.
“Seventh is a spot better than last week, but even with a sore knee I know I’m better than that,” James said after the race. “I got really cold out there tonight, and that caused me to ride tight. No excuses, though… Those guys rode well, so I just need to come out tougher and faster next weekend at A2.”
450SX RESULTS
1. Justin Barcia
2. Ryan Villopoto
3. Davi Millsaps
4. Chad Reed
5. Trey Canard
6. Jake Weimer
7. James Stewart
8. Ryan Dungey
9. Andrew Short
10. Josh Grant
JS7, How you doing my man? I hope the ACL heels up and I appreciate you saying in your interview that you are ok and not going to use that as an excuse. I know you said that so the clowns will not say you are looking for an excuse. You do your best and **&^% the rest. ACL injuries are devastating if you are involved in any type of sporting event. You don’t own anyone ANYTHING but yourself. Don’t let the clowns and low life’s get you down. They can never be what you are even with a torn ACL Keep your head up and keep doing what you are doing. This is (1 Adam 12) and tell big James I said hello. See you in Dallas and Houston.
Good luck this season! If god rode a bike he would come to YOU for advice….It has been a pleasure watching you at work over the years! Stay safe.
Just continue to race smartly JS7 it is still a long season and that ACL injury can be very problematic especially with the track layouts this season! Hopefully you can it on two wheels all season and shake things up this year! Racing gets very dull when you’re not out there!
How about you dye your hair Suzuki yellow. Then the knee questions will go away.
Nice work w/ the acl prob. FYI, let your dad do the rest of your interviews until they stop asking about the knee. Podium this week kid…..
dude i don’t know how bad your knee was but you rode great these last two races. i only saw one mistake in phoenix. you don’t have to win every race, just keep getting points and progressively get faster each race. no series have been won in the first two or three races but they have been lost in the first races!!!! eventually about halfway in the series you will have to step up the speed depending on your knee and the points situation, but by then you will have been up to speed and getting a rhythm going. good luck the rest of the series.
James I am a Huge fan from south africa, and I know your the best rider out there and my whole family belives it to and sits on the edge of their chair for you. I know you can kick butt next week. all the best. You can show these people how to ride a bike properly.
JAMES YOU GOT TOO PUSH HARD NOW SO ON THE LATER STAGE YOU MORE CHILED POINTS ARE RUNNING AWAY MATE.YOU THE BEST.
Someone translate this from ghetto to English.
FYI I’m pretty sure the individual who wrote this was from another country, not the “ghetto”! If he were ghetto he would have started the sentence “Yo bruh le’ me holla-atchu dawg, ur racin’ dope son! Get on da box so we can give u mad props son ” Also, “Mate” would definitely not be used in this context… Mr. funny man! Coming from someone who lives in the, “ghetto” as you say!
hey james, were’s the scrub?? do it like 2009..