James Stewart put a block pass on Ricky Carmichael with two laps to go to take the win in front of 70,000 people at round six of the 2006 Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series held at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.
Carmichael tried to retake the lead with an attempt in the final turn, but Stewart fended off the Team Makita Suzuki rider to put his factory Kawasaki on top of the podium for the third time this year in the AMA series and the fifth time in the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series.
Carmichael grabbed the holeshot at the start of the main event, and for 17 laps, the leading duo ran nose-to-tail, with Stewart never more than a second-and-a-half away.
When the two-lap board came out, Stewart made an inside move that Carmicahel was unable to counter and took the lead.
Team Yamaha’s Chad Reed ran in third place from the first lap on, but couldn’t keep the pace of the two front runners, while Jeremy McGrath, in perhaps his last Supercross race ever, finished an impressive fourth-place on a Honda.
With the win, Stewart gained three points on Carmichael in the series standings and now sits 11 points behind him with 10 rounds to go (139 to 128), while Reed drops back to third with 124.
In the Lites division, Team Honda’s Andrew Short held off a last-lap charge by Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Grant Langston to take the win in San Diego and claimed a two-point lead in the series standings going into the break. Langston made an impressive charge from as far back as 13th on the first lap to almost catch Short at the finish.
Red Bull KTM’s Mike Alessi, who grabbed the holeshot at the start, ran in third for a great part of the race, but ultimately his teammate Nathan Ramsey displaced him for the final podium spot.
Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto followed Langston through the pack from 14th to finish fifth.
With two rounds remaining, Short leads the standings with 118 points, followed by Langston with 116, Ramsey with 107, Laninovich with 99 and Alessi with 95.
SX MAIN (20 laps):
1. James Stewart (Kaw)
2. Ricky Carmichael (Suz)
3. Chad Reed (Yam)
4. Jeremy McGrath (Hon)
5. Mike LaRocco (Hon)
6. Ivan Tedesco (Suz)
7. Michael Byrne (Kaw)
8. Nick Wey (Hon)
9. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon)
10. Erick Vallejo (Hon)
SX LITES MAIN (15 laps):
1. Andrew Short (Hon)
2. Grant Langston (Kaw)
3. Nathan Ramsey (KTM)
4. Mike Alessi (KTM)
5. Ryan Villopoto (Kaw)
6. Brett Metcalfe (Yam)
7. Darcy Lange (Kaw)
8. Ryan Morais (Suz)
9. Jake Weimer (Hon)
10. Paul Carpenter (Hon)
