~'--'...--'
.JAMES
"BUBBA"
STE\NART
makes the transition from the hard-pack to the soft sand a successful one
By PAT SCHUTTE
othing or nobody could stop
Jam e s " Bubba" St e w a rt
from delivering another epic
performance on the AMA
Chevrolet Cham pio nship
Motocross Series tour. The 19-year-old
Team Chevy Trucks Kawasaki KX125 rider already a legend in the sport - retumed to
the deep sand of Southwick and put up lap
times bettered on ly by Ricky Carmichael
and Chad Reed in the 250cc class. No one
could stay close to the tw o-stroke-mounted
rider, as he rode to a I- I finish, increasing his
perfect streak in the series to ) -0 in overall
finishes and 6-0 in moto finishes . It was, to
put it bluntly, another race fo r second place
in the I25cc class.
"What can you say about the kid? He's
amazing," said second-place finisher Mike
Brown of the Boost MobileJYamaha/Troy
PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN
Racing squad of Stewart's perfo rmance .
"Both of us got bad starts , and I rode my butt
off to get through the pack, only to find out
he was gone when I got up towards the
front,"
Stewart, he said, was admittedly a bit
rusty in the sand. The Haines City, Florida,
native said he'd been out in Califomiafor too
long and was not as ready for the series' only
sand race of the year. In fact, dur ing
www.cyclenews.com
Saturday's first practice sessio n, Stewart
swapped out a couple of times and looked
like anything but the most dominant l25cc
rider in the world . But when the gate
dropped on Sunday, it was like he snapped.
"Man, I'm crazy!" yelled Stewart to his
legion of fans from the podium. "I think I ran
into a couple guys out there. If I did. I'm
sorry!"
So with Stewart crowned Southwick
C YCLE N EWS • JUN E 23, 2004
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