Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart picked up his second consecutive Monster Energy Supercross victory Saturday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Stewart, a two-time series champion, moved past Ryan Dungey for the lead on Lap 3 and controlled the pace to claim his 47th career victory – one shy of tying Ricky Carmichael for second on the all-time 450SX Class wins list.
“I’m so happy,” said Stewart. “I thought we needed to be better for the Main Event and we were. The track was really difficult and I knew I had to get myself to a certain point in order to make a pass and control the race. The championship doesn’t matter right now. We just need to keep riding like we are. If we do that, then we’ll be good.”
Dungey was unchallenged for his position for the remainder of the race and finished second. Justin Barcia put forth an aggressive ride to earn his first podium since last April (Seattle).
Ryan Villopoto overcame a slow start to finish fourth ahead of Justin Brayton and rookie Ken Roczen. Broc Tickle, Wil Hahn, Josh Hill and Andrew Short rounded out the top 10.
Villopoto’s result gives him an 12-point lead over Roczen and a 14-point advantage over Stewart. Chad Reed drops from third to sixth in the championship standings after failing to start in Arlington. The Aussie suffered three broken bones in a crash in San Diego.
The series heads further East to the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga. for round eight of the title fight. Coverage begins on FOX Sports 2 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
