Stewart outlasts Reed in a thriller

January 11, 2009

A fast-finishing Chad Reed (Suzuki) has just failed to overhaul arch-rival James Stewart (Yamaha) in round two of the AMA Supercross Championship at Phoenix's Chase Field Stadium on January 10.

The crowd of 46,566 was brought to its feet on the final lap when Reed came within striking distance of Stewart heading into the final few whoops sections of the track. But Stewart successfukly erased the memory of his opeinmg round DNF in Los Angeles to record a 0591sec victory. Round one winner Josh Grant (Yamaha) was third, a massive 28 seconds behind Stewart.

"I felt good tonight," said Reed. "I was chasing No. 7 (Stewart) down and having fun, but it wasn't quite enough. I will take the championship week by week and make sure I stay on the podium.

"The one thing we know about this championship is that to win you need to be there week after week. It is about consistently collecting  points, so I didn't  want to make any silly mistakes that might cost me points.

"We have shown tonight we definitely have the pace to be at the front I just need to work a little harder on my starts,"

Reed is now second in the standings on 42pts, three behind Grant (45) and in front of Honda duo Andrew Short (38) and Ivan Tedesco (33), Kawasaki pair Ryan Villopoto (30) and Tim Ferry (30), with Stewart (27) closing in in seventh.

Stewart moved into the lead on lap one, and his defence was impermeable for the rest of the journey, even as Reed closed in. It was his third consectivce win in Phoenix,

"My goal was to try to win the race and I was able to do that, so it was good," he said. "I just wanted to ride better than I did last week."

"It is nerve-wracking but at the same time, I just had to be composed and ride in my own head," Stewart said. "That's the only way I can get it done. Obviously he (Reed) was riding good; he had better parts than I did, and I had better parts than he did. The crowd was going wild and I knew when he would get close.

"There is still a long way to go and a lot of work to do. If we just think about each weekend and I win races then eventually the points will come. The championship is definitely not going to be given to me and I know I have to work for it.

"After last weekend, having the bobble that I had, I don't think it was anybody's fault, but I do think I put myself in a small hole and I have to dig myself out."

Only the top six riders completed the full 20 laps in the final, with Tedesco fourth from Short and Windham.

Australian Troy Carroll (Kawasaki) was eliminated in the LCQ in Phoenix, while his countryman Daniel McCoy (Honda) and New Zealander Cody Cooper (Yamaha) had disastrous evenings.

Former Australian motocross and supercross champion Dan Reardon (Honda) was 10th in the Lites final, and is 13th overall.

Round three is back at Anaheim on January 17.

For full results from Phoenix, click here.