Kawasaki’s James Stewart is counting on a week off to rest his sore knee and a return to one of his favourite tracks, Unadilla in New Berlin, to provide the combination he needs to get back to AMA Motocross winning ways this Sunday.
In May, at the season opening Hangtown National, Stewart became the first rider in nearly three years to beat reigning champion Ricky Carmichael. It marked the end to the longest winning streak in AMA Motocross history, but Stewart then suffered a hard crash in round two at Mt. Morris - and took a further heavy knock after an engine failure in round three at Southwick.
Those incidents forced the young Floridian to sit out Budd's Creek, but he finished second to Carmichael on his comeback ride at Red Bud last time out - and feels he’s finally healthy enough to challenge Carmichael again.
"Ricky’s riding really well right now so it’s going to be tough," Stewart admits. "I’m going back to work in practice during the week to improve a few things. By the time we come to Unadilla I hope I’ll be back close to 100 percent physically. I like that track a lot and have always done well there so we’ll see what happens."
Stewart and Carmichael came together off a jump in last year’s race at Unadilla in one of the season’s most controversial moments. Stewart has won three times in the Motocross Lites class (then called 125 class) at the track.
While Stewart is eager to race at the historic Unadilla circuit, Carmichael admits that the natural terrain track is not one of his favourites. This in spite of the fact that he’s won five of the last six AMA Motocross Championship races there.
"It’s no secret that Unadilla is not my favourite track, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to cut any slack to anyone," said Makita Suzuki’s Carmichael. "I know James is going to be tough there. It could be a really good battle and I’m looking forward to it."
Another rider to watch for at Unadilla will be Sobe/Samsung Mobile Honda’s Kevin Windham. Windham won at Unadilla in an epic race over Carmichael in 2003.
