James 'Bubba' Stewart clinched his second AMA 125 Motocross championship on Sunday at Binghampton, after the 18-year-old easily won both motos to take his ninth victory of the season so far.
"This has been an unbelievable year," said Stewart, who won his first title in 2002 but was injured at the start of last season. "It’s a great way to close out my career in the 125 class. I’m looking forward to moving up to race with Ricky (Carmichael) next year."
The victory was Stewart’s 26th in the class and means he is now tied with Ricky Carmichael on the all-time AMA 125 Motocross wins list.
"I’d like to break Ricky’s record in the 125s," he said. "And I just want to close out the season having fun at these last couple of races. That’s my motivation."
Suzuki got two riders on the Binghamton podium with Broc Hepler and Davi Millsaps. Hepler took a 2-2 and earned his fifth podium finish of the year to pull even further ahead of Mike Brown in the standings after taking over second-place in the series last week. Millsaps jumped from tenth to eighth in the standings with his third-place result.
Meanwhile, Carmichael continued his unbeaten streak in the 250 class and is now just two wins away from completing an undefeated season for an incredible second time in his career.
The Honda rider won both motos by big margins and needs only a 19th-place finish in either moto at Steel City in two weeks to clinch a record fifth AMA 250 Motocross championship.
"The track was like one big rut today," Carmichael said. "I knew the starts were going to be important and after not getting good starts at Millville I really concentrated on that today. My bike was set up really well today and I felt like I could go anywhere I wanted."
Yamaha’s Chad Reed recovered from a crash last week in Millville to take second overall with 2-2 finishes. It marked the Australian’s best result at Binghamton. Suzuki’s Sebastien Tortelli completed the podium and is now just seven points from Heath Voss for eighth in the standings.
The series moves to Steel City Raceway in two weeks.
