Motocross: James Stewart To Skip Lake Elsinore National
Cycle News Staff | August 20, 2013
James Stewart pulls off the track after coming up short over a jump in Utah last weekend. Photography by Kit Palmer.
Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart says he will skip this weekend’s final round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship at Lake Elsinore, California, because of an injury, according to a release from his team.
The release did not mention anything specific about the injury, but Stewart recently injured his neck/back area prior to the Unadilla round and it is believed that he has been bothered by it ever since. He rode Unadilla but retired early in the second moto after crashing a few turns into the race. Stewart then apparently re-aggravated the injury at last weekend’s National in Utah when he cased a jump early in the first moto. Stewart pulled off the track and rode back to the pits holding his left arm behind his back. Stewart did not return.
“This was a tough call to make,” said Yoshimura Suzuki team manager Mike Webb in a release. “Especially since we’ve had some good momentum going after the win at Millville. But as a team, we all agreed that after the setbacks at the last two races, James’ time would be best spent recovering so that he can focus on Supercross testing in September. After that, we can turn all of our attention to winning the Supercross Championship in 2014.”
Stewart is currently fifth in the 450 Championship, 14 points behind Trey Canard and 45 points ahead of Jake Weimer.
The release also says the team’s next race will be round one of the 2014 AMA Supercross Series at Anaheim Stadium, January 4.
