KNEE INJURY HOLDS JAMES TO 8TH AT ANAHEIM 1
Anaheim 1—the most highly anticipated race of any given Supercross season—hosted the first of 17 rounds of SX action on Saturday night under beautiful Southern California skies, as James fought through adversity to finish the night in eighth place aboard his Red Bull-backed Yoshimura Suzuki.
In what James referred to as “the longest race day of the entire season”, Anaheim 1 once again attracted a sellout crowd and massive live TV audience to help usher in a new year of intense racing action. Prepared, and ready to do battle with the world’s top Supercross athletes, JS7 went to work on the challenging Anaheim circuit during the timed practice sessions, dropping the quickest lap time of the day in the process. James’ confidence was unfortunately short-lived, however, as a bobble during the last lap of the session quickly unraveled an otherwise flawless start to the new year.
SUPERCROSS HEAT 2
After jamming his knee during the last lap of the final practice session of the day, James rolled to the line for Supercross Heat 2 aboard his Yoshimura Suzuki less than stoked and far from 100%. Still, the determined Floridian gritted his teeth as he rocketed out of the gate to charge his way through turn number one in the second spot. After making his way into the lead early on lap one, JS7 struggled to find the same pace that propelled him into the number one qualifying position earlier in the day, and was eventually passed by Trey Canard and Davi Millsaps on his way to a respectable third-place, qualifying finish.
SUPERCROSS MAIN EVENT
Despite consulting with his team, doctors, and family between the heat and main event about the possibility of calling it an early night, James opted to line up for the Supercross-class main with the simple goal of collecting as many championship points as possible. After a mid-pack start, JS7 conservatively worked his way into the eighth spot by the midway point, and held the position through the final ten laps of the race.
Though far from meeting expectations, JS7 and crew feel fortunate to escape the 2013 debut with valuable points, and look forward to rebounding strong next weekend in Phoenix.
Stay tuned for more details on James’ knee injury in the days to come…
SUPERCROSS RESULTS
1. Davi Millsaps
2. Trey Canard
3. Ryan Dungey
4. Chad Reed
5. Jake Weimer
6. Andrew Short
7. Justin Barcia
8. James Stewart
9. Justin Brayton
10. Kevin Windham
Wow, some of you people are dips. Even minor knee injuries are no joke. A strain, bruise or small tear is painful and doesn’t heal in a week. Why criticize JS for the way he is riding? You ain’t him so don’t worry about it! Seems to me that he’s riding with more control so his knee can heal, and he’s getting some decent points which will matter later. Sounds like a smart plan to me. He’s still a competitor and has the skills/speed to take the podium. HE AIN’T DUN YET!!!
Even hurt James would lap most of us in a race give the man a break he races week after week for are excitement Supercross is very demanding on the body why is it if james gets hurt you all bag on him what about the other riders Trey Carnard always hurt bag on them to not just james but let me tell you whem james is on his game hes un touchable Chad Reed said that himself give the man a break.
Checked out the track for this weeks race only three right hand turns. Should take some of the pressure off of the knee….. Victory this week
Hey Albert m. Are you that stupid that he just retires because if his injuries….. Just wasting companies money……he does not have to ever win again and geuss what he will still sell the piss out of his sponsors gear just because who he is and what he has accomplished u piss ant
dont give up bubba your the best my brother and i hope we get to see you one day keep doing good dont let that dude anothy get to you pray for who you want hope my family gets to see you one day
Excellent, intelligent ride James, way to stay in contention. Consistentcy wins championships. What you did was being smart, the competetion is strong and a last place start would have been hard to overcome. Believe me the other riders are very aware of your finish. They understand that you can go on a winning streak at anytime, and the old saying among them will become “I’m tired of racing for second place”.lol….. RV2 is the champ but no one seems to realize that he has only finished ONE season in FOUR years. Keep it smart and continue to believe in your program. The front runners at this point are not real threats just lucky. Josh Grent won the opener a few years ago and he faded every race after that. Once the contenters set themselves apart things change. Keep up the good work……
Maybe James should start praying to a different God, jesus christ an’t been lookin out for him lately.
come on bubba who cares about your football team ,,,,hows the knee????
You still the man James
Much love from Australia
Just let Bubba Sr ride next time. At least you didn’t take out anyone else on the track this time.
If it’s a REAL injury, he won’t be back racing at the next round. He’d need surgery or time off. If it’s all drama because he knows he can’t win, then he will be back, with more whining and more of his ‘poor’ me syndrome.
Don’t know much about knee injuries do you???? Not all require surgery. Strains and sprains, or inflamation just need rest and or therapy.
Its pretty easy to say that if JS has no tears in his knee that he will be ready for phenix. Also, if he didnt think he could win he wouldnt be out racing
SHUT UP YZ 250 CHICK YOU GO RACE HIM EVEN WITH A BAD KNEE HE WOULD LAP YOU 30 TIMES IN A 20 LAP RACE
shut up yz250 chick you dont know injuries he jammed it he would make you look like a goon hurt wait your already a goon you ride yamaha
YO! Huge fan since T E R R A F I R M A !!! Yeah I said TERRAFIRMA. This little kid was spankin’
this KX60 so hard I literally thaught it was going to break in half. Look James needs to ride fast
enough WIN, NOT ride as fast as he CAN and try to go faster. C’MON man, you were riding in the
red zone on the last lap of practice??? Because of moves like that, I am to TUMS what james is to
Suzuki!! I’d say Sat. went as good as possible for JS7. Yeah, great even. I mean I saw some mature
decision making and a team respond to adversity perfect. He rode for some points and saved his
body for 16 more races. Then on top of that all of his top competition did as bad or worse. So, until
he’s not posting faster lap times than RD5, RV, 22 AND SO ON. You’d have to be dumb, deaf, and
blind not to root for the 259### JUST KEEP IT RUBBER SIDE DOWN AND EVERYTHING ELSE WILL TAKE CARE OF ITSELF!!!!!
For all you young’ins TERRAFIRMA is like a 93′, FOX freeride video with toddlers named
James, Ricky, and Travis. Ha. Ha. It also shows one of the worst National Outdoor crashes ever when Dough Henry broke his back for the first time.
I have been a fan of james for a long time. Infact i have ridden with him several times at Bithlo….. I use to really look forward to watching, when you were healthy and riding everyrace and winning and honestly now i dont get thrilled to watch if your not in the race, shows how much of a fan i am. But i think something has changed in you, kinda agree with the couple others. Think you should take some time and figure it out. Everyone knows how fast you are but is getting hurt all the time worth it? No cause when your older its gonna seriously catch up to you and you wont be able to enjoy all your money.
James least you got some points on the board! The first round is always carnage! I hope the knee is ok and you can get out there and race! Get on the box week in week out will win the title! Good Luck!
Good job James. I was so glad to see you out there racing — through the pain and all, and without a doubt, I was fired up with the effort and result for you and the team today. It was downright respectable! And as fate would have it, look at all the bad luck RV would have — 3 crashes. Dungey and Barcia down too. Intense opener for sure!
JS7/Team Yoshimura Suzuki is surely my pick for the championship in 2013. Fans are with you all the way. Cheers!
JS seems to have never been the same since his wrist injury, but does anyone think a team didn’t check out his health before signing him? If you push it in any sport, you will fall. JS & RV (see Anaheim 1) may need to dial it back a bit to win. You only need to win by a knobby length, not a minute..
Leave James Alone! A fan sticks up for the number 7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq0lzJebxSA
Sorry for you James, congrats on finishing in eighth place with your injured knee
I hope you will be ready for Phoenix
james i met you at shoug,,, you are still the man to beat,,, win dammmit,,, if you a place near hollister hills,, write me,,, dave,,, im old schoool,,, raced this stuff in the seventies,,, you had team sambos,,,, i was team quitos,,,,,
James,
I applaud your racing skills!! Watching you race the 2nd heat I had no idea you were riding with an injury. You led for quite some time… Congratulations on finishing the main event in eighth place. I trust this season will treat you well!!
Actually, yeah I do know what it takes to race, go ahead Jeff and Jason make some more excuses. Did you not see RC’s shock and what he said after the fact knowing what had happened. It was like BS,he said regardless man you can’t give up, you have to at least put yourself on the gate and try. He said that several times. Jeff just hush son, I have been a fan of this guy for a good while. When I first saw him riding 250′s I said that guy is going to do some damage and be a world champion and he was, twice. But it sucks to see someone of this talent pissing it away and wasting folks time. I mean if he can’t ride consistently anymore without falling down and injuring himself then what good is he really to racing. That’s when you need to just ask yourself “Am i just done here?”. I think he is just scared to be beat or his ego can’t take a loss. Did you notice that when Canard caught him in heat 2 he just backed off. I think there is more here than what folks really know and James own personal struggle with whether he has it anymore.
All i’m saying is if this guy can’t ride without always being injured he needs to just retire and maybe work behind the scenes in the industry. I never once remember any of these excuses growing up racing and watching Mark Barnett, Bob Hannah, David Bailey, Brad Lackey, Ricky Johnson with all these excuses. Real Champions suck it up and do what it takes to get the job done.
Not sure what freaking race you were watching sunshine, but the race the rest of the SX/MX saw James suck it up and race! It funny how some of you ding bats take S!&^ about the man but you can’t do half the stuff he can or anyother pro racer for that matter, so until you are that person that can best him you might want to keep your mouth shut… Whiskey keyboard racers!
Hey ALBERT!! ….LAST WORD!,……………I wish I could pin your ears back, you moron. You don’t even know what day it is, let alone anything about motorcycles, SX, riders, etc. Kinda funny how you’re making uneducated assumptions when your biggest accomplishment is bagging on someone you don’t even know. GET OFF THE WEBSITE, GO HOME, DO SOMETHING ELSE!!!
Excuses are :
I don’t like the tires ,
or I don’t like my bike,
or maybe I don’t like the #1 Joe Gibbs team ……
Injuries suckkkkkkkk …. but he was out all out door with a finger / wrist injury … how many guys wish they had to ride a on Factory bike with some sort of injury ….. bet most of them !
Yeah apparently Joe Gibbs on their Yamaha’s were so good. Look who won now that he is off of that bike.
So here I am excited to see you race again, and guess what I see Ralph S. come across the screen with a special message that you have hurt yourself again and that they don’t know if you are going to race….. Really? On the first race back for 2013?….Dude lets get REAL..you need to stop with the BS..It’s old man really it is . If you just don’t have what it takes anymore to win or race consistently, then just retire and stop wasting those companies time that back you and there resources. Because that’s all your doing, wasting there time.
Why do you think people are starting to form such negative opinions about you. You lost that DRIVE to win and to be the best somewhere within you dumb reality show. I think you got caught in the glitz and the glamour and have never returned to Motocross. I watch how you carry yourself and you think your crap don’t stink. I could understand you carrying yourself like that if you were still out there taking care of business,but facts be facts “YOU JUST DON’T”. It’s nothing but excuses,excuses,excuses. Either get it together or stop wasting your Team’s time and what little fan base you have left. Are you going to make it so bad to where you can no longer get anything from anyone? “Jason Lawerence FTW”. Your headed down that road. Sorry to be so blunt man but some of us who have supported you are just tired seriously…
If you are tired of supporting, then go somewhere else. Clearly you are a person with no real pull in the journalism community otherwise people would care what you thought and would value your opinion. And outside of Chad Reed, James the had the most views of his prerace press conference on youtube…. that must have been all those tired, non-followers
Hey Albert!! Do you really think James gives a sh.. about what you say
? lol, It’s so funny hearing all the negative comments from the uneducated so-called “fans”. All of you bashers would crash on your bicycle getting out of your driveway!!!!!
Excuses?? WTF are you talking about? Have you ever raced a motorcycle at Bubba’s pace? Do you know how fast you can tweak a knee? Obviously you don’t know a thing about racing motorcycles or you wouldn’t have commented what you did. It amazes me how people that don’t care for James can’t wait to talk trash about the guy…if he sucks so bad then why do you waste your time talking about him? I don’t like Dungey at all, but I’m not out taking crap on message boards about him. Maybe it’s because I actually race motocross & I respect any & all riders out there. Wait till James is at 100% & then tell me about his “excuses”.
Albert m. Really man if you want to give somebody career advice you should pick someone who needs it. Like for example someone who actually makes excuses and whines on tv. your complaining about what the announcers said about James. He never came up and said ( I’m having trouble with anything ). Why don’t
You go ask Reed why he was making excuses about his bike setup or the fact that he hasn’t raced in the us for awhile he didn’t fall and he’s not injured and the best he could do was fourth, and he was full of excuses
You should take your stupid opinions to his website
Dude shut you pie hole bro, put your big boy pants on and STHU! If you could do better we’d see your punk ass racing trying to best the #7! So until then stick another little Debbie in your mouth and pipe down!
Feel sorry for You James. Hope you are healthy for the next race so I can see my favorite rider own:) know you hate too be injured, saw that in bubbas world!
Injured again? All you ever seem to be is injured! Starting to get bored with the excuses!
Thats why we obviously dont see you out there doing anything other than being a spectator with a lot of opinion. An injured knee is not an excuse, you need to do that and then place the top ten much less even finish at all. Injuries have been what have ended many careers in SX and they definetly were not excuses. A knee injury is no joke and could end his career.