Wrist injury at Thunder Valley Motocross slides James Stewart Jr. to third place on season standings
James Stewart Jr. failed to collect any championship points in Round 3 of the 2012 Lucas Oil American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Pro Motocross after sustaining a wrist injury during the first moto that went down at Thunder Valley Motocross (MX) Park
in Lakewood, Colorado, on Saturday, June 2.
Prior to the first moto, the Yoshimura Suzuki rider had established himself as the favourite to win the race after laying down the fastest qualifying lap time during practice.
Starting moto 1 in tenth place, the Florida-based rider exuded confidence from the start and smoothly rode to gradually improve his position. By the end of Lap 2, he had moved into the lead, two seconds ahead of Dungey.
Stewart was doing well to hold on to his lead, when a member of media moved across the track. Most likely distracted by his presence, the Yoshimura Suzuki rider stumbled straight into the rut after landing from a step-down jump. The crash resulted in a wrist
injury, forcing him to pull out of the race.
“It was a bummer, but at the end of the day, that's racing,” said Stewart, who entered into Thunder Valley with a 4-for-4 record on the 2012 AMA circuit. “The wrist is hurting pretty good, so we'll go back and get some X-Rays and see where we are,” he further
added.
Coming to Thunder Valley for the latest stop on the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross series, the Yoshimura Suzuki rider sat at top in the season standings, enjoying a convincing lead over Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey who sat in second place.
Competing in his first compete AMA Motocross season since 2008, Stewart had been on a roll since the very first race at Rancho Cordova, California, in May. Despite a tough fight from Dungey, the Florida-based rider claimed victories in both the motos to
walk away with an over-all win.
The Freestone Raceway in Wortham, Texas, featured yet another superb performance by Stewart, eventually sealing the fate of Round 2 in his favour as well.
He was looking just as threatening as ever at Lakewood, but the injury cost him his top position in the standings as he failed to add any points to his account. He was replaced by Dungey on No.1 spot, while Kawasaki’s Jake Weimer rose to second place, pushing
Stewart to third.
Stewart is hopeful of making his return to action at the fourth round of the AMA Motocross series, High Point Raceway, which is scheduled to go down in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania.
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