Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/650535
VOL. 53 ISSUE 9 MARCH 8, 2016 P107 to say in last week's story, but the gist of it is that Marvin (and everyone else in the stadium) felt like James should not have allowed himself to become a fac- tor in the outcome of the race, but he did. If Stewart had let the leaders go by when he had the opportunity to earlier, Marvin would have most likely won his first 450 supercross race and half the internet would not be calling for Stewart to retire. Instead, despite seeing at least two blue flags directed at him, James chose to race with Musquin and Dungey through a long whoop section and into a bowl turn at the end. Not until he was nearly to the top of the turn did it occur to him that he needed to get out of the way. By then, the die was cast and, even though no contact was made, his bonehead move set off a sequence of events that cost Musquin the win and at least a hundred and fifty grand in prize money and sponsor- ship bonuses. Despite what had just transpired, an unrepentant Stewart told me afterwards that he would "do it the same way if he could do it again a hundred times." I remember thinking that if the roles were reversed, he would be singing a much different tune. The truth is that if it had hap- pened to him, he would have screamed bloody murder and Suzuki team manager Mike Webb would have been at the AMA trailer demanding they do something about it. When he said that he would do it again the same way, it struck me as the height of arrogance and an indication of how off his thinking was. His actions had just cost Musquin a ton of money, yet in his mind that was okay, because he hadn't intended to cause any harm. Skewed thinking, for sure. The incident was beat to death online all week and the consensus was to chalk it up to Stewart's inexperience at being lapped. KTM even released a statement exonerating Stewart of all blame in the matter, which was a nice gesture, though highly unusual and a bit puzzling. When I spoke with Musquin's Red Bull KTM Team Manager Roger DeCoster in Atlanta about the race, he seemed to think Stewart was plenty to blame. As humiliating and unBubba- like as the Lappergate incident was, it paled in comparison to Stewart's performance in the Daytona Supercross on Saturday night. Whoever the rider was on the number seven Suzuki, he was not the James Stewart that we know, that much is certain. Stewart was out of the race before he completed a lap of the first 450 heat, coming up short in a series of small jumps, then grabbing a handful of throttle and looping out crazily, slam- ming both the bike and himself into a twisted heap on the track. Everything about it was wrong and it felt like I was watching a Ronnie Mac goon-riding video, only not funny. Later in the broadcast, they showed a gri- macing Stewart being attended to by the Asterisk medical crew, a sight we have become all too familiar with unfortunately. Most riders keep racing until an injury forces them out. I can only think of two racers that retired at the top of their game— Stefan Everts and Ricky Carmi- chael. Both went out in a blaze of glory, winning their respective classes at the Motocross of Na- tions. It is unfortunate that the tenacity, dedication and mad skills that help riders like James become great champions also often work to keep them in the game longer than they should. No one wants to see Stewart motor around each week and be lapped into oblivion, nor do we want to see him get hurt. I was there when Stewart won 24 straight National motos and that is the way I want to remember him. I want to think of him as The Fastest Rider on the Planet, not as a lapper. So, no more floundering, no more goon-riding and no more losing— that's not too much to ask, is it, James? CN