Overcast skies hovered over San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium for most of the day on Saturday, but by the time the opening ceremonies ushered in round six of the 2012 AMA Supercross Series at just after 7:00pm local time, the skies had parted to welcome an intense night of racing action. Unfortunately, after setting the quickest lap time of the night in his heat race, James had a main event he’d rather forget after crashing early and having to settle for a disappointing 15th-place finish.

SUPERCROSS QUALIFYING HEATS
• Supercross-class Heat #2 was James’ first opportunity to showcase his skills on the Qualcomm circuit, and when the gate dropped, he rocketed down the start-straight to grab the holeshot and early lead.
• After a mistake on lap one, James slipped back to the second spot for a couple laps, but kept within striking distance of the lead.
• With three laps down, a red flag came out for an injured rider who was down in the middle of one of the track’s tricky rhythm sections, sending the heat back into the gate for a restart.
• When the gate dropped for the second go-around, JS7 got pinched off in the first turn, but battled his way into the fourth spot by the end of lap one.
• On lap five, James got a great run through San Diego’s long whoop section, and blitzed passed Dungey for second.
• Unable to catch Chad Reed up front with just two laps remaining, James cruised across the finish line double for a safe and conservative second-place finish.

SUPERCROSS MAIN EVENT
• When the pack entered turn one after the long San Diego start-straight, Red Bull KTM’s Dungey slid into the fifth spot, with James close behind in sixth.
• On lap three, James got by Dungey in the same spot he did in the heat race (whoop section), and began chasing after Jake Weimer in fourth.
• Proving to be his favorite passing lane of the night, JS7 got by Weimer just one lap later in the whoops, and then made quick work of Metcalfe in the same spot on the very next lap.
• In a twisted turn of fate, however, James’ lucky section reached out and grabbed him on lap eight, as he went over the bars and hit the ground hard.
• Remounting in 19th, JS7 had his work cut out for him in order to salvage some precious championship points, but was only able to scrape together a 15th-place finish when all was said and done.

SUPERCROSS RESULTS
1. Ryan Villopoto
2. Chad Reed
3. Ryan Dungey
4. Brett Metcalfe
5. Josh Hansen
6. Justin Brayton
7. Davi Millsaps
8. Kyle Chisholm
9. Mike Alessi
10. Nick Wey

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Round five of the 2012 AMA Supercross Series was greeted by perfect weather and a challenging track inside Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California on Saturday night, and the capacity crowd was treated to some of the best racing of the year as James triumphed through adversity to finish in a gutsy second-place, podium position aboard his JGRMX Yamaha.

A bit beat up after a gnarly heat race crash, James is stoked to walk away from Anaheim with second-place points, and looks forward to going after win number two in San Diego next weekend. For now, here’s how the racing unfolded in Angel Stadium…

SUPERCROSS QUALIFYING HEATS
• When the gate dropped for the first Supercross-class heat of the night, James got taken wide in turn one, but blasted into the lead in the following rhythm section.
• On lap four, while building a massive lead over the rest of the field, James went down hard in the same rhythm section that he used to pass for the lead early on, and was unable to rejoin the race.
• With his perfect heat race streak now broken (4 of 4 heading into A2), JS7 lined up in the gate for the Supercross-class LCQ despite being banged up from his earlier crash, and immediately piloted his Red Bull-backed Yamaha into the lead on lap one.
• Though riding a conservative pace, James led all six laps en route to the LCQ win.

SUPERCROSS MAIN EVENT
• After a solid start from the outside, James rounded lap number one of the Supercross-class main event in fourth place.
• Toward the end of lap eight, James put a pass on Reed to take over the second spot, but had his work cut out for him to catch Villopoto who had established a five-second lead up front.
• In the end, Villopoto’s gap proved too much to overcome, and JS7 had to settle for second on the night.
• Though bummed to not back up his Oakland win with a second-straight in Anaheim, James’ second-place finish was still plenty to be proud of after his hard get-off earlier in the evening.
• The series moves on to San Diego next weekend for round number six, and the championship points chase is still well within reach for James, as he now sits just 13 points back in the fourth spot.

SUPERCROSS RESULTS
1. Ryan Villopoto
2. James Stewart
3. Chad Reed
4. Ryan Dungey
5. Justin Brayton
6. Kevin Windham
7. Davi Millsaps
8. Mike Alessi
9. Brett Metcalfe
10. Broc Tickle

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Northern California’s motocross faithful packed into the home of the Oakland Raiders (and A’s) on Saturday night to witness round number four of the 2012 AMA Supercross Series, and for the second year in a row, James took home the win in NorCal after a hard-fought battle!

Having lost his practice mechanic, Mark “Tex” Adams, earlier in the week to a tragic traffic accident, James no doubt rode an inspired main event, and later dedicated the win to his fallen friend. The victory was James’ first of the year, and gives him a much-needed boost in confidence as the series heads back to Anaheim for round number five next weekend.

Here’s how James put his Red Bull-backed JGRMX Yamaha on the top of the box in Oaktown…

SUPERCROSS QUALIFYING HEATS
• When the gate dropped for Supercross Heat #2, James got a great jump to enter turn one with the momentary lead, but after nearly washing out his front end midway through the corner, he dropped back to fifth in the blink of an eye.
• After quickly regrouping and weaving his way to the front, James put a move on Andrew Short to take over the lead on lap five.
• Under pressure from Ryan Villopoto at the finish, JS7 held strong to take the heat win—his fourth of the series.

SUPERCROSS MAIN EVENT
• After another great jump out of the gate, James circulated lap number one in the fifth spot, but made a couple quick passes to move into second by the beginning of lap three.
• After patiently stalking early leader Chad Reed for several laps while Villopoto pressured from behind, James finally made a pass for the lead on lap number 10.
• By lap 15, JS7 had opened up a fairly comfortable four-second lead over Reed, but still had plenty of lapped riders to contend with ahead.
• Riding strong and confident up front, James successfully navigated through the slower traffic, and then crossed the checkers in dominant fashion to capture his first win of the series.
• During his podium speech, James proudly dedicated his win to Tex.

SUPERCROSS RESULTS
1. James Stewart
2. Chad Reed
3. Ryan Villopoto
4. Ryan Dungey
5. Andrew Short
6. Kevin Windham
7. Davi Millsaps
8. Jake Weimer
9. Justin Brayton
10. Josh Hansen

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