Fresh off back-to-back Monster Energy Supercross victories, Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart enters Saturday night’s race at The Georgia Dome as the fastest qualifier in the 450SX Class.
Stewart topped both timed qualifying practices, with his fastest lap of 52.436 coming midway through the second and final session. He was more than two-tenths of a second quicker than JGRMX’s Justin Brayton and fellow Suzuki rider Broc Tickle.
A pair of rookies rounded out the top five with Ken Roczen in fourth and Wil Hahn in fifth.
Reigning Champion Ryan Villopoto struggled throughout qualifying practice and only managed to qualify sixth, nearly seven-tenths off Stewart’s pace. Justin Barcia, Ryan Dungey, Eli Tomac and Andrew Short complete the top 10.
Despite failing to finish on the podium last weekend, Villopoto continues to hold the championship lead over Roczen (-11) and Stewart (-14).
As reported earlier in the week, Chad Reed will sit out the remainder of the season due to injuries suffered at Anaheim 3. Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson will fill-in for Reed beginning next week in Indianapolis.
In the 250SX Class, Adam Cianciarulo, who grabbed his first career victory last weekend, earned fastest qualifier honors with a lap of 53.076. Blake Wharton was second ahead of Pro Circuit teammates Martin Davalos and Blake Baggett. Vince Friese qualified fifth.
Round eight of the Monster Energy Supercross Championship will be live on FOX Sports 2 at 7:30 p.m. ET. It will also be streamed on the FOX Sports Go app.
