..
James Stewart
ANAHEIM I WILL
MARK THE 250cc
SUPERCROSS DEBUT
OF JAMES STEWART
-AND THE
MOTORCYCLING
WORLD IS HOLDING
ITS BREATH
By PAUL CARRUTHERS
PHOTOS BY KINNEY JONES AND
STEVE BRUHN
hen you listen to James "Bubba"
Stewart talk, you hear a young man
who is dithering along the fine line
between being the cocky 19-year-old
phenomenon and the respectful new
kid on the block. On one hand you get the feeling that
Stewart thinks he will dominate the THQ Supercross
Series. On the other hand, it's almost like he's trying
like hell to make sure nobody thinks he's thinking that.
Welcome to Bubba's World.
It all happens on January 8. That's when Stewart will
make the most highly anticipated 250cc Supercross
debut since a young Jeremy McGrath broke into the premier class in 1993. He comes to the class with impressive credentials as the winningest 125cc rider in history,
and also as one of only two riders to win both the 125cc
Eastern and Western Regional AMA Supercross titles.
But all that 125 stuff was just a warmup, a light jog to
get the juices flowing - soup before the steak. What
Stewart has been looking forward to since he was a kid
on a 10<60 was the day when he could take on the big
boys. That day is almost here. And there have never
been as many big boys in the series as there are now.
So just how important is Stewart's move to 250s1
That depends on which answer you pay attention to.
The modest, respectful Stewart says it like this...
"It's really important to me, but it's not everything,"
he says. "I plan on being here a while, and there are a lot
of rodeos left. It's really exciting. I'd like to prove to all
the doubters out there that I can be a 250 champion,
and just kind of prove to some of the critics out there
that said I can't do it. It's another challenge in my life, and
it's another step in the direction I want to go, and I'm
looking forward to getting there."
Fair enough. But ask Stewart if he's looking forward
to dicing it up with the likes of Ricky Carmichael and
Chad Reed after a few years of basically not having much
competition in the 125cc class, and the cocky side of the
19-year-old takes a big step forward. He wants to tell
you that he's going to kick their asses, but something
stops him. Then he tells you anyway - in a roundabout
fashion.
"That's fine, if you think it's going to go like that,"
Stewart said in a wide-ranging teleconferenced interview held with several journalists from around the country - further proof of just how big Bubba's World has
W
