James Stewart has taken his second 250cc career win when he cruised to an easy victory at the 14th round of the AMA/THQ Supercross series in Seattle, Washington, last Saturday night, (Apr-16), whilst Red Bull KTM's Nathan Ramsey took the win in the 125cc West series, but was unable to stop Defending Champion Ivan Tedesco from taking his second title in a row.
After qualifying was cancelled due to wet track conditions the Settle event saw the 250cc class go through a three heat process. Stewart, Ricky Carmichael and Amsoil/Chapparal/Factory Connection Honda‰Ûªs Kevin Windham all came away winners whilst Team Yamaha's Chad Reed had an early indication of things to come when he hit a lapped rider and crashed in his heat, forcing the Australian to qualify through the Semi.
At the drop of the gate in the main, Stewart never looked in doubt after sending Reed over the tough blocks in the first corner to take the holeshot with Carmichael, Jason Thomas and Windham in tow.
"That first corner couldn't fit three of us in there" said Stewart commenting on the incident.
"I was in the middle, I think what Chad did tonight was something I was supposed to do, you know, go wide open and wish for the best and it didn‰Ûªt work out. I want to apologise to him right now, I know these guys are going for a championship but I am also trying to win races too. I can definatly tell you I didn't mean to hit him. There was definatly nothing to it, he just got the bad end of the stick". he lamented.
With Reed languishing in 18th after the resulting crash most attention was focused on the defending champion as he made a blistering charge through the field. Up front Stewart was well in control with Carmichael a seemingly safe second. It was not until the closing laps that all hell broke out behind Stewart as Windham found stride and started to attack the Makita Factory Suzuki rider. Reed had also made his way past fourteen of the eighteen riders that stood between him and Stewart and had the podium runners in his sites.
With a lap to go Windham made his move on Carmichael and the two went wheel to wheel for a short time, but Windham eventually got the upper hand. Reed had also closed in, clocking his fastest lap of the night, but by the time the Chequered flag had come out Stewart had recorded his second win, Windham crossed the line a mere 4 tenths of a second ahead of Carmichael and Reed just over a second of the podium.
Carmichael's third place was enough to see him crowned World Champion. "This championship means a lot to me and I look forward to the rest of the season," Carmichael said. "The THQ World Supercross GP championship was the only one I had not won, so I'm excited for this opportunity."
Redbull KTM's Nathan Ramsey saw daylight first as the 125cc West riders hit the start straight for the second last time in 2005, following in his team-mates footsteps was Australian Jay Marmont who nailed his best start of the season. Needing sixth or better to win his second successive championship Ivan Tedesco held a steady pace in 5th for the opening lap, whilst Laninovich was in the thick of things in the opening laps and was putting pressure on Marmont until his bike struck problems.
Laninovich problem promoted Tedesco to third whilst heat winner Brett Metcalfe's charge through the field was halted when he had his front wheel taken out from under him whilst running 6th.
Back in the pack Broc Hepler was making steady progress whilst up front Andrew Short made a pass on Tedesco after stalking him for a few laps. Short was on a beeline for the front and soon demoted Marmont before Ramsey suddenly went down with a 9 second lead. Marmont hit the front for the first time this season but would not record a lap as leader in the record books as Short soon found his way back past.
after 10 laps Ramsey had made his way back to the front and became engaged in an enthralling battle for the lead whilst Tedesco settled in third as Marmont dropped back to fourth. with three laps to go Ramsey made a difficult triple in the heavy conditions to open a small gap on Short, which he would hold until the chequered flag to record his second win in a row.
Short held onto his second place, while Tedesco did enough with third to be crowned 2005 East coast Champion, making it a perfect year for the Monster Energy Drink/Pro Circuit team by taking both 125cc titles. Hepler made a last lap lunge to displace Marmont from fourth.
"I got a great start, I got the holeshot, which was my first for the year, that felt great", said Ramsey. "I knew the track was going to go away real quick. I just wanted to get a good lead, it definatly got a bit ugly out there". he added
