Stewart Out of Tonight's US Open SX

Shan Moore | October 12, 2007

After setting the fastest time in the second qualifying session for tonight’s Rockstar Energy Drink US Open Supercross at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, defending champion James Stewart pulled himself from tonight’s race, stating that he just felt he isn’t ready to return to racing since injuring his knee injury a few months ago.

“Riding the Open was kind of a last minute decision,” said Stewart. “And over the last few weeks we haven’t had a lot of time to ride, and last week I decided I wasn’t going to come, just because I felt like I wasn’t ready to race – my knee is fine, but I just haven’t had a chance to prepare for this race.”

However, Stewart made a last minute decision to ride the Open and participated in today’s practice sessions before calling a surprise press conference, afterwards.

“In the first practice I felt really off. And in the second practice, even though I was still fastest, I just didn’t feel right. We are just getting back to being healthy and the last thing I want to do is to upset that and so we decided as a team that the best decision was not to race, just because I was not prepared to go 20 laps. The last thing I want to do is to go out there and let my fans and my team down.”

Stewart Out of Tonight’s US Open SX