News 29 May 2013

Stewart targets outdoor race wins as Suzuki makes progress

Yoshimura Suzuki's James Stewart believes he has his bike dialled in and the time has come to start winning races as the third round of the 2013 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, looms near.

James Stewart is focusing on race wins heading into round three of the US Motocross season. Image: Simon Cudby.

James Stewart is focusing on race wins heading into round three of the US Motocross season. Image: Simon Cudby.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart believes he has his bike dialled in and the time has come to start winning races as the third round of the 2013 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, looms near.

Stewart kicked off his 2013 outdoor campaign with a solid third overall at Hangtown’s season opener, but ran into trouble during moto one at Colorado’s second round over the weekend.

After a bad start Stewart was tangled up with Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer, forcing himself to remount, dig deep and battle through to pack from dead last.

“I went 15-3,” said Stewart. “The 15 sounds pretty bad, but I didn’t get a good start in the first moto and a rider went down right in front of me and I ran straight into him.

“I went over the handlebars and I was way dead last – but I made my way up to 15th. It was good because I felt strong the whole race.

“In the second moto, I didn’t get the best start but I tried to pick off people one by one. I got into third and kind of settled in. Overall, the third was nice, the 15th wasn’t, but I feel better.”

Stewart and his Yoshimura Suzuki crew have found comfortable settings on their RM-Z450 and the multi-time champion feels that it’s time to go out and break Ryan Villopoto’s current winning streak.

“We’ve really been working on bike stability and now I feel like we’ve got the Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 dialed in,” he added. “I’m happy with that and I actually feel really good. I think it’s time to start winning some races.”

With Stewart’s seventh overall result in Colorado, he now sits fifth overall in points with 10 rounds remaining on the schedule.

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