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AMA 1 25cc Western Regional Supercross Series Round 3: Edison International Field was putting his height to good use through the long whoop section that ran from home plate into the outfield along the first base line. Preston battled back and forth with Hamblin, Smith and a fading Evans. Smith, meanwhile, put a pass on Sorby to take over the second spot on lap five. A rejuvenated Laninovich then diced briefly with Sorby in the horseshoe rhythm section on lap six before dropping him to fourth. But it was when Preston caught up to Sorby at the start of lap seven that the fireworks really began. On that lap, Preston attempted a clean pass on the Frenchman in the right-field whoop section, only to be cut off by him in the following right-hander and fall down. Preston got going again, this time with teammate Chris Gosselaar, who worked forward from an 11 th-place start, on his tail. Preston caught Sorby again and tried to retaliate, but the Frenchman got away, only to slow down before the same right-hander where the two had made contact before. When Preston shot past him to take the berm, Sorby railed the champ into the Tuff Blox again. Preston didn't fall that time, and he By SCOTT ROUSSEAU PHOTOS By STEVE BRUHN ANAHEIM, CA, JAN. 18 137 e may now only be one for five at LQ!, Edison International Field, but the 44,732 fans in attendance will likely remember the time that Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's James Stewart scored his first career Anaheim Supercross victory. It was a home run of epic proportions. Barry Bonds has got not~ing on this kid. The 16-year-old Floridian put his best main event start yet this season to good use, shooting past Red Bull KTM's Billy Laninovich and into the lead before the 22-rider field cleared the first rhythm section. From there, Stewart went to work, cutting flawless laps and putting about 1.6 seconds per lap on second place. By the time he crossed the finish line, Stewart had lapped his way up past the ninthplace finisher, Pro Circuit/Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Eric Sorby. It was as close to a perfect run as Stewart might be able to expect. "Right now, it feels like, 'thank God,' you know," Stewart said. "I had to go and praise the ground. I had 15 solid laps. My Chevy Trucks Kawasaki got me out to an awesome start, and it was just awesome from there." Stewart's margin of victory was a whopping 25.126 seconds. "I guess 1 wanted it real bad," Stewart said. "I came out first, and it was just an awesome race. I'm so 12 JANUARY 29.2003' cue happy right now." While Stewart went on his merry way and piled up seconds, the rest of the field was racing for second. That position ultimately fell to Motoworld Racing.com Suzuki's Andrew Short, who came off the line fifth in the main event and battled in a tight pack of riders that included Laninovich, Sorby, ECC Suzuki's Tyler Evans and So Be Suzuki teammates Danny Smith and Sean Hamblin. As the field began to string out, Laninovich held the second spot until Sorby cut to the inside of him on lap three. The move came over a little hump .... n eVIl's in the right-hander that led out of the horseshoe rhythm section and into the whooped straightaway before the finish line jump. The two collided, and Laninovich went down. He quickly remounted in fourth place, behind Short. "I just made a mistake right there, and Eric jumped it and just clipped my handlebars, and I fell over," Laninovich said. "I got up real fast, and luckily it didn't break anything." Reigning 125cc Western Region Supercross Champion Travis Preston, who had gotten off to a mediocre start to run in the eighth spot early, hunted Sorby, looking for another chance to pass. It appeared as though he would get it on the run over the finish-line jump, but Sorby looked over and took away the line, then nearly stopped at the top of the jump. The two appeared to make contact again, and both riders had to single the jump, while Gosselaar got a clean launch and passed both riders for fourth place. Sorby went down after getting bumped by a charging Danny Smith later in the race and wound up ninth, but a scuffle broke out among Sorby and Preston's mechanics at the start-