Stewart remains ahead of the pack
Can anyone catch James Stewart?
The Kawasaki rider is the clear favorite in tonight’s Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross race as the series returns to Anaheim for the second of three races it holds each year at Angel Stadium.
Stewart, 21, won the 20-lap main event in the series opener there Jan. 6, then won again last week at Chase Field in Phoenix.
Moreover, Stewart’s toughest competitor, five-time AMA Supercross champion Ricky Carmichael, won’t be in the field tonight.
Carmichael, 27, is decreasing his off-road motorcycle racing this year as he tries to become a stock car driver.
He rode in the first Anaheim race for Team Makita Suzuki and finished second to Stewart after falling, but won’t compete in the final two events at Angel Stadium.
That leaves Chad Reed, who rides the No. 22 Yamaha, and Travis Preston of Hesperia, rider of the No. 11 Honda, among the most serious threats to Stewart’s winning streak. But Reed, the 2004 series winner, is nursing a shoulder injury.
Stewart, of Haines City, Fla., battled Carmichael for the AMA championship last year before finishing second, and Stewart said he’s a better rider on his No. 7 bike this season.
“I’ve always had fun in racing, I just think the difference is that I’m a lot stronger,” he said after the Phoenix race.
“I mean, it’s simple as that. I keep getting stronger each week.”
Supercross is the stadium version of outdoor motocross racing. AMA Pro Racing, the sport’s sanctioning body, spreads 1.5 million pounds of dirt over the ballpark’s infield to create the hilly supercross layout.
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