This is the 2009 Supercross season finale from Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, NV.
In 2009, San Manuel Yamaha's James Stewart #7 came into the final round in Vegas with a scant 6-point lead over Rockstar Makita Suzuki's Chad Reed #1, the defending Supercross champ from 2008. James had came from a bad beginning to the Supercross season with a DNF and a 19th at Anaheim 1 to get to where he was at this time.
The series began in January at Anaheim 1. The big changes to note were that James Stewart had left his long-time home of Kawasaki for San Manuel Yamaha after a perfect 2008 Motocross season. Chad Reed, who was on San Manuel Yamaha for the past two years, left his long-time home of Yamaha for the Rockstar Makita Suzuki team after winning the 2008 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship. James Stewart romped his way to the 2007 title with 13 wins. The Supercross world was not disappointed at Anaheim 1... but later were.
James Stewart and Chad Reed engaged in a titanic battle at Anaheim 1. Reed and Stewart exchanged the lead several times, but it ended in tragedy around the midway point when James hit a false neutral and Chad Reed had no time to react; both combatants crashed. Reed remounted and finished in 3rd; Stewart was unable to restart his Yamaha and didn't finish the race. Stewart was credited with 19th. The winner turned out to be #33 Josh Grant on his new JGR Yamaha.
Angry over his Anaheim 1 DNF, Stewart reeled off 7 in a row from Phoenix to Atlanta. Chad Reed, who suffered from terrible starts, yet was able to come back to finish 2nd in all 7 races, finally got on the board at Indianapolis with his first win of the season. Both went into Daytona tied at 199 pts. apiece. Daytona provided another turning point for the season.
Chad Reed made it two in a row at Daytona. He came from near last to overtake the leader of the race... #338 Jason Lawrence on the AMPM J-Law Racing Yamaha. Lawrence, the defending Supercross Lites West champ, was riding the Supercross class out East after a controversial Lites West season. Lawrence led the race until about 4 laps to go when he surrendered the lead to the methodically charging Chad Reed. Unfortunately, Chad Reed has not won Daytona since. Stewart crashed hard in the first turn and got up -- bent bike and no visor on his helmet -- from last to 7th. This gave Chad Reed an 11-point lead after Daytona.
Stewart earned win #8 at New Orleans (the first race there since 2002), but Chad Reed was quick to respond at St. Louis. After 3 crashes total from James Stewart, counting 2 crashes in his heat race, Chad Reed made it win #3 of 2009; unfortunately, St. Louis was Reed's last win of the Supercross season. Stewart won Toronto and Jacksonville for wins 9 and 10 (to tie Jeremy McGrath's 1995 and 2000 record), but Seattle was the final turning point of the season.
At Seattle, James got an uncharacteristic bad start, but Chad Reed crashed in the first turn. Stewart was able to come up to 2nd place behind Team Kawasaki rookie Ryan Villopoto #2, the newest winner of 2009. Chad Reed (while fighting a stomach sickness) fought back for 7th. This gave James Stewart the points lead by 3 over Chad Reed. Up until Seattle, Chad Reed had been ultra consistent by finishing no worse than 3rd at the opener. Reed and Stewart battled again at the last race in Salt Lake City, but it ended with interference from James Stewart's San Manuel Yamaha teammate #38 Kyle Chisholm. James rode away with his 11th win of the season and a 6-point lead over Chad Reed. That meant Reed had to win the race and hope that Stewart finished 4th or worse to cause an upset.
In the main, Villopoto, Stewart, and Reed got out of the gate with almost identical starts. Villopoto got around Stewart, who was riding conservative to win the title. Reed came up behind Stewart, but didn't pass him the first time around. With Villopoto long gone, Reed had one last ditch effort to take the title away. When they went out to Monster Alley, Reed tried to send Stewart off his bike and into a tuffblock; it didn't work. James kept it on two wheels and rode it out in 3rd. At the checkers, it was Ryan Villopoto with his 2nd win of the season. Chad Reed finished 2nd, but the real winner was James Stewart in 3rd. Stewart earned his 2nd premiere class title (4 if you count the World Supercross titles in 2006 and 2007). Unfortunately, James' title defense in 2010 was a sham because his season ended due to injury after the first 3 races of the season.
Enjoy.
2 июн 2019
