Free and easy for Stewart
By TMX Archives on 11th Jun 08
JAMES Stewart's domination of the AMA motocross championship continued apace at a blisteringly hot Freestone Raceway in Texas on Sunday. As the mercury hit 40 degrees at the newest venue on the nationals calendar, Stewart continued his shut-out of the Motocross class and despite a first moto tip over comfortably won both races by over 10-seconds to make it six win from six starts in the series so far. Stewart is starting to look unbeatable, and with the Kawasaki rider only likely to get faster as he gets back to full strength and confidence after his knee surgery it is looking less likely that his competition is going to be able to beat him without a crash or mechanical.
After, by his standards at least, a terrible weekend at Hangtown, Mike Alessi bounced back and was once again the closest challenger to Stewart, actually leading laps both moto's. However, the Makita Suzuki team leader could not match Stewart's outright pace and had to once again settle for a pair of lonely, unchallenged runner-up finishes.
Things were closer behind the lead duo though with Andrew Short, his Honda team-mate Davi Millsaps, and Tim Ferry rounding out the day sperated by just one point, Short grabbing one more than the other two, however, to claim his first podium finish of the season with Ferry fourth to maintian his second place in the standings and Millsaps fifth.
There was more joy for Kawasaki in the Lites class too as reigning class double champion Ryan Villopoto again wiped the floor with the rest of the field to easily claim to a double win and extend his championship lead over closet championship rival and twice runner-up Ryan Dungey.
Villopoto's team-mate Austin Stroupe was third both times out and the lead three all pulled a small but significant gap over the chasing pack in the championship after Brett Metcalfe and Jason Lawrence were both hit with DNF's on the day.
TOYOTA AMA MOTOCROSS SERIES
Rd 3 - Freestone Raceway, Freestone, TX
MOTOCROSS
1 James Stewart (Kawasaki) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Mike Alessi (Suzuki) 22 + 22 = 44
3 Andrew Short (Honda) 20 + 15 = 35
4 Tim Ferry (Kawasaki) 14 + 20 = 34
5 Davi Millsaps (Honda) 16 + 18 = 34
6 Michael Byrne (Suzuki) 13 + 16 = 29
7 Jeff Alessi (Honda) 8 + 14 = 22
8 Charles Summey (Yamaha) 12 + 10 = 22
9 Nick Wey (KTM) 7 + 12 = 19
10 Antonio Balbi (Honda) 11 + 8 = 19
11 Cody Cooper (Suzuki) 18, 12 Jimmy Albertson (Honda) 17, 13 Robbie Reynard (Suzuki) 16, 14 Shaun Skinner (Honda) 15, 15 Ivan Tedesco (Honda) 15.
Series Standings (After 3 of 12 rounds): 1 Stewart 150, 2 Ferry 114, 3 M Alessi 111, 4 Millsaps 110, 5 Tedesco 83, 6 Byrne 78, 7 Short 71, 8 J Alessi 62, 9 Wey 59, 10 Cooper 57.
MOTOCROSS LITES
1 Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Ryan Dungey (Suzuki) 22 + 22 = 44
3 Austin Stroupe (Kawasaki) 20 + 20 = 40
4 Jake Weimer (Honda) 18 + 18 = 36
5 Thomas Hahn (Kawasaki) 15 + 16 = 31
6 Dan Reardon (Honda) 10 + 14 = 24
7 Broc Tickle (Yamaha) 11 + 13 = 24
8 Brett Metcalfe (Kawasaki) 12 + 12 = 24
9 Andrew McFarlane (Kawasaki) 14 + 9 = 23
10 Will Hahn (Yamaha) 5 + 15 = 20
11 Bobby Kiniry (Honda) 20, 12 Jason Lawrence (Yamaha) 16, 13 Kyle Chisholm (Kawasaki) 15, 14 Matt Lemoine (Yamaha) 14, 15 Jake Moss (Yamaha) 14.
Series Standings (After 3 of 12 rounds): 1 Villopoto 141, 2 Dungey 126, 3 Stroupe 120, 4 Metcalfe 96, 5 Lawrence 95, 6 Weimer 89, 7 Tickle 56, 8 T Hahn 54, 9 Reardon 53, 10 Trey Canard (Hon) 47, 11 Lemoine 41.