BUCHANAN, Mich. – Monster Energy Kawasaki’s James Stewart improved to 6-0 in overall victories for the season, while also extending his moto winning-streak to a perfect 12 races at round six of the AMA Toyota Motocross Series at Red Bud Track N Trail in Buchanan, Michigan, today.
Stewart easily won both motos on the beautifully prepared Red Bud course, and he even ended Mike Alessi’s holeshot streak at seven motos by beating Alessi to the first turn in the second race.
As he has done all year, Stewart moved to the front early in each race and then settled into an fast but consistent pace after establishing a healthy lead.
Alessi finished second in the opening moto, but a brutal crash on the first lap of moto two sent the Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider to the hospital for evaluation.
Red Bull Honda’s Andrew Short took advantage of Alessi’s absence and finished second overall, with consistent 3-3 finishes, while Michael Byrne put his Suzuki on the podium for the first time with a 4-4 day for third overall.
“It was hot and I think that separated the competition a little bit today,” said Stewart. “I got good starts today and as long as I continue to get good starts I think I’ll do okay. Every year this track offers something different and this year this track was great.”
In the opening AMA Motocross Lites moto, MDK/KTM’s Ryan Sipes grabbed his second BTOSports.com Holeshot Award of the season and parlayed the good start into a career-best third place finish. Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Villopoto came out of the first corner in the top five and quickly made passes to take over the lead position, a spot he would never relinquish, while Geico Powersports Honda’s Trey Canard capitalized on a season-best start to finish second.
In the final moto, Villopoto notched his fifth holeshot of the season and led flag-to-flag en route to the overall win. Canard followed with back-to-back seconds while KTM’s Martin Davalos put together moto results of sixth and third to land on his first-career overall podium.
With the finishes, both Stewart and Villopoto are in line to win the three-race Monster Energy/Kawasaki Triple Crown of Motocross bonuses.
“I’ve won some of the Triple Crown’s before,” stated Villopoto, who has won the opening two rounds of the three-race Monster Energy/Kawasaki Triple Crown of Motocross. “I’ve never won three in a row so it’d be nice to go to Steel City and wrap it up there. Once I saw how close Trey (Canard) was, I just put my head down and put in some quick laps. Three or four laps later I was about 19 seconds ahead. I figured he fell.
Stewart currently holds a 79-point lead over Alessi in the AMA Motocross standings, while in AMA Motocross Lites division, Villopoto has a 95-point advantage over Rockstar/Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey.
Motocross Results (Overall)
1. James Stewart (Kaw)
2. Andrew Short (Hon)
3. Michael Byrne (Suz)
4. Nick Wey (KTM)
5. Charles Summey (Yam)
6. Jeff Alessi (Hon)
7. Jimmy Albertson (Hon)
8. Timmy Ferry (Kaw)
9. Mike Alessi (Suz)
10. Cody Cooper (Suz)
Lites Results (Overall)
1. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
2. Trey Canard (Hon)
3. Martin Davalos (KTM)
4. Josh Grant (Hon)
5. Nico Izzi (Suz)
6. Andrew McFarlane (Kaw)
7. Kyle Chisholm (Kaw)
8. Kyle Cunningham (Hon)
9. Brett Metcalfe (Kaw)
10. Ryan Sipes (KTM)
