Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

t wasn't so much a loose, rendering it nearly impossible to question if James "Bubba" Stewart would get his first 250cc Supercross use. I ~win, it was more like when. And the answer to that question came Saturday night at Texas Stadium in front of 43,276 Supercross fans as the 19-year-old factory Kawasaki rider got his long-awaited first Win, and he did it in somewhat surprising dominating fashion. Many thought that his first win would most likely come after a long, hard-fought battle against the likes of defending Supercross champ Chad Reed and series points leader Ricky Carmichael, not to mention other top contenders such as Kevin Windham and Travis Pastrana, who were also on the line tonight. But Stewart made his first win look almost easy, as he shot to the front right off the start, opened up a modest lead and rode off to victory. It was as simple as that. "It was actually a little easier than I thought," Stewart said of nabbing the Dallas win in only his third 2S0cc-c1ass attempt. "I just had to ride my own race. Everything just came together. I felt good - the whole team, everybody behind me - I don't even know what to say. "When I got the checkered flag, I thought it was a dream," Stewart said of the moment when he finally realized that his first win was here and now. "I don't know which feels better, my first race [win] or this one - I'm thinking this one." Stewart did have some help along the way dUring the 20-lap feature. After nabbing a massive holeshot on his Jeremy Albrecht-tuned K.X250 and qUickly establishing a small lead over Reed and Carmichael, his gap grew significantly when Reed, who was running second, nearly crashed on the second lap. But Stewart's wire-to-wire victory didn't come without some tense moments either. While cruising out in front, Stewart's front-brake lever came "When you tend to fall a lot, your mechanic leaves your front brake kind of loose," Stewart said with a grin. "I lost my front brake like seven laps in, and halfway through the race, these guys [Carmichael and Reed] started catching me, and then I kind of got adjusted to it and kind of gapped them again. I felt it [the lever] was a little low and I hit it a few times. In the beginning of the race, I think I just kind of knocked it loose. It was my fault, just a silly thing." But Stewart overcame that adversity and went on to take the checkered flag a healthy 5.206 seconds ahead of Carmichael, who was handed second place when Reed fell on the last lap. Reed ended up third. "I don't think we had anything for [Stewart] tonight," Carmichael said. "I got the holeshot - I had great starts all night - and I didn't fall," Stewart said. "I felt fairly comfortable tonight, [but] I was a little nervous out there. I haven't been out there for 20 laps and stuff. But I felt great, strong. I'm so happy I don't even know what to say." And his mechanic, Jeremy Albrecht, also found it hard to describe his feelings. "It actually feels kind of relaxing," Albrecht said after watching his rider nab the Dallas win. "I was a little nervous there the last five laps when it started to hit me. He rode smooth and tried to relax and not push it like he did at the last race. He learned a lot at Orlando, that he doesn't need to push it every time through the whoops." Albrecht said that his own last win as a tuner came when he was wrenching for Jeff Emig, but he couldn't remember the exact date. "Probably like '98 - it's been awhile," he said. As for Carmichael, he was actually quite happy to get second place. Earlier in the week, while testing the RM-Z450 four-stroke in Florida for the upcoming outdoor Nationals, Carmichael suffered a hard get-off and was still feeling the

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