Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s James Stewart has credited a month-long layoff for his debut success at last weekend’s Monster Energy Cup in Las Vegas.

Stewart raced his Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 to two out of three supercross main event victories to take the overall win and the $100,000 purse at Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday night.

In the evening’s first race, the starting gate on Stewart’s side did not drop and the race was restarted. In the restart, Stewart got the holeshot, but the alternate gate malfunctioned and caused another restart.

Then, after two unsuccessful gate drops, racing commenced, but Stewart didn’t get a clean launch and had to come from 19th, but he still managed to work his way up to an eighth-place finish.

In the second final, Stewart more than made up for the unfortunate starting incidents earlier by getting the holeshot and leading all 10 laps to victory.

In the night’s final race, he got another good start, put his head down; and captured the lead halfway through the race. From there on out, Stewart never looked back and held the lead all the way to the flag.

“We’re 100-grand richer but most importantly, we won!” Stewart beamed. “This was a special win for me. During the off-season, I took a month-off from riding and that helped me realise not only how much I appreciate winning, but also how much I appreciate racing, riding and having fun.

“I really wanted to come to this race for my fans and for my team. It’s been great to come here and know that we’re taking the right steps. I can’t thank the whole Yoshimura Suzuki team enough – they gave me the RM-Z450 that I fell in love with.

“To be able to get out here and show it at a one-off race where everybody is going for it was amazing.”

The result capped off a promising season for Stewart, who became one of just three riders in history to win main events over the course of nine consecutive American Supercross seasons.

Stewart’s next showing will come on 4 January at Angel Stadium, the first round of the 2014 Monster Energy Supercross Championship.