WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 52 ISSUE 2 JANUARY 13, 2015 P57
the LCQ, which he easily won.
Luckily, Stewart got good advice
from his older brother, James.
"I can't thank my brother
enough," said Stewart. "I was
so down after Anaheim I and
then I went to the LCQ here, so I
talked to my brother and he said
just forget about everything and
go out there and have fun and
that's what I did."
Stewart grabbed the holeshot
to start the race and appeared to
be pulling away before Cooper
started to run him down.
"I knew Cooper was catching
me, I could see it on the
Jumbotron, but honestly, he
was faster than I was," said
Stewart. "But all I needed to
do was stay up, that's been my
biggest problem, and it paid off.
I just want to keep building from
here."
RACE FOR THE PODIUM
Meanwhile, Troy Lee Designs/
Lucas Oil/Red Bull/KTM's Jessy
Nelson landed on the podium
for the second consecutive
week in third, and he again left
the Phoenix race with the red
number plate (which identifies
the class' series leader).
Nelson pushed Stewart at
one point, but, in the end, he
had to fend off a challenge by
Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha's
Aaron Plessinger to finish third.
"I was around fifth off the
start and I just rode smart,"
said Nelson. "I just tried to
make good clean passes and
not tangle with anyone and get
through the whoops; they were
tough."
While trying to get around
Nelson, Plessinger might've
been surprised by the rapidly
closing Tyler Bowers, who snuck
up and snatched fourth away
from Plessinger on the final lap.
Red Bull KTM's Justin Hill
settled into sixth and remained
there until the finish after turning
in a spectacular win over Bowers
in his heat race.
After Phoenix, Nelson is six
points ahead of Webb in the
Western Regional 250 class
championship standings, while
Bowers, on Monster Energy/Pro
Circuit Kawasaki, is third, seven
points back.
"The track was tricky, it was
super slippery, and to still have
the points lead is awesome,"
said Nelson. "Last week was my
first win and my first podium, and
to get another podium, back to
back, and get out of here with
the red plate is awesome." CN
450 MAIN
1. Eli Tomac (Hon)
2. Ken Roczen (Suz)
3. Ryan Dungey (KTM)
4. Weston Peick (Yam)
5. Davi Millsaps (Kaw)
6. Jason Anderson (Hus)
7. Andrew Short (KTM)
8. Trey Canard (Hon)
9. Jake Weimer (Kaw)
10. Chad Reed (Kaw)
250 MAIN
1. Cooper Webb (Yam)
2. Malcolm Stewart (Hon)
3. Jessy Nelson (KTM)
4. Tyler Bowers (Kaw)
5. Aaron Plessinger (Yam)
6. Justin Hill (KTM)
7. Zach Osborne (Hus)
8. Shane McElrath (KTM)
9. Zach Bell (Hus)
10. Tommy Hahn (Hon)
Webb gets a hug by
a very proud mom.
