AMA

SUPERCROSS: World: Anaheim round five pre-race notes

Kawasaki's Stewart Aims for Third-Straight Win in Anaheim AMA Supercross Lites Points Race Heats Up AURORA, Ill. (January 16, 2007) -- Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP/Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series returns to Anaheim's Angel Stadium this ...

Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 6:28 AM

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Kawasaki's Stewart Aims for Third-Straight Win in Anaheim
AMA Supercross Lites Points Race Heats Up

AURORA, Ill. (January 16, 2007) -- Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP/Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series returns to Anaheim's Angel Stadium this Saturday, January 20 with Kawasaki's James Stewart, 21, of Haines City, Fla., the new points race leader. Stewart picked up his second consecutive win last weekend at Phoenix' s Chase Field and leads the field into another exciting weekend of racing in southern California.

A pre-race press conference will be held inside the Diamond Club at Angel Stadium Thursday, January 18 from Noon-2:00 p.m., featuring the Yamaha of Troy team.

Stewart, who chased Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael for the first six laps of last week's race, controlled the lead from lap seven to 20 as he moved into the points lead for both the Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP and Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series. In front of 44,953 fans at Chase Field, Carmichael displayed another great ride -- his last in Phoenix before pursuing a stock car racing career -- finishing second. He will be in the announcer's booth this weekend providing color commentary for the CBS Sports broadcast Sunday, January 21, at Noon EST.

Setting a precedent at Anaheim 1, on January 6, Stewart led all 20 laps in the AMA Supercross class main event. The win marked his second Anaheim 1 victory in the premier class; he captured two AMA Supercross Lites wins back in 2003.

"I am very focused this year," said Stewart. "I think the difference from this year, to last year, is that I am a lot stronger. I keep getting stronger each week. It's a lot of hard work. I think the racing will continue to get better every weekend."

Coming on strong recently is Honda's Travis Preston, of Hesperia, Calif., who finished in fourth place at the first two domestic AMA Supercross class races, challenging third-place rider Chad Reed for the podium position. Preston is a former AMA Supercross Lites class champion (2002), and is expected to be front-runner this year.

In his second career AMA Supercross Lites race, Frenchmen Christophe Pourcel, who rides for the Pro-Circuit Kawasaki team, captured his first race win, beating Anaheim 1 winner and teammate Ryan Villopoto, of Poulsbo, Wash. Pourcel moved into the AMA Supercross Lites class points lead heading into this weekend. Kawasaki's Chris Gosselaar, Yamaha's Jason Lawrence and KTM's Josh Hansen each have 33 points and round out the three, four and five positions in the overall standings respectively.

"It should be good this weekend," said Villopoto. "We (Pourcel) always joke around and have a good relationship. It's fun to be around him, but we are competitors. He was fast at Anaheim 1 and fast in Phoenix."

Ironically, Pourcel has a contract to race in Europe where he will defend his MX2 World Championship. The original plan from Kawasaki was to have him enter the west region AMA Supercross Lites competition on a part-time basis.

"I am going to decide what I am going to do after the Anaheim 3 race," said Pourcel. "I didn't really think about winning races this year."

This weekend will mark the 23rd time that the Amp'd Mobile Supercross will pack Angel Stadium as the world's best supercross riders will compete for the number-one position.

This year's AMA Supercross class features its deepest field of competition ever. Last year's AMA Supercross Lites champions Langston and Millsaps will race the premier AMA Supercross class this year along with Ivan Tedesco, Tim Ferry, David Vuillemin, Travis Preston, Nick Wey and Kevin Windham.

Amp'd Mobile Supercross, which made its racing debut in Anaheim on December 4, 1976, brings a multi-million dollar economic impact to the city for each race, where fans from around the world converge to watch the world's top racers compete in the storied city. Carmichael is tied at eight with seven-time supercross champion Jeremy McGrath for the all-time win record in Anaheim.

-credit: www.supercrossonline.com.

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