San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart has finished the 2011 AMA SX series – also an FIM World Championship – in 4th position after suffering a crash and DNF at the seventeenth and final round of the competition in Las Vegas last Saturday. Stewart did not break into the podium positions for the title after an exciting and unpredictable campaign but he did capture five victories and was the first of four YZ450Fs in the top ten of the season standings.
39, 506 spectators filled the Sam Boyd stadium for a tense climax to a schedule that has been relentless since the second week of January. Stewart started well and moved from third position into the lead where he stayed for three laps until a mistake through the whoops section caused him to fall and ended his evening. 2011 has seen ‘JS7’ experiencing the highs and lows of the racing spectrum and now the Floridian will make a late decision on whether to enter the AMA MX Nationals, due to start in two weeks at Hangtown.
“We didn’t end the season like we thought we would,’ he said afterwards. “I got a good start but struggled through the whoops. I dropped the front end. I have been crashing a lot in the whoops lately and I’m not really sure what is going on. We will keep trying to get better. We have some other things going on now that I am excited about. It’s a bummer year but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I appreciate all the support I’ve had this year and we’ll step it up.”
Austin Stroupe was the best Yamaha runner in Las Vegas with 6th position and finished one second ahead of Nick Wey while Kyle Regal was 9th.
In the 2011 points table JGR’s Davi Millsaps managed 8th in his first season on the YZ450F. His team-mate Justin Brayton took 9th while Wey made sure of 10th on his VMS Rockstar Yamaha. Ryan Sipes used his YZ250F to confirm 3rd overall in the AMA Supercross Lites East category.
