Earlier in the week, Chad Reed made his return to Monster Energy Supercross official. Unemployed for a few months, the Supercross MX Champion finally came to terms with team Rockstar/Makita Suzuki, and now the standard talk of excitement follows.
In the meantime, Stewart has stated his case for Monster Energy Supercross 2009: he just wrapped the 2008 AMA/Toyota Motocross Championship by winning the latest round of the tour in Millville, Minnesota. For the last three years, the AMA Motocross tour has pounded James into a pulp, battering him with vicious crashed and injuries each time. Now that’s he’s survived this tour in perfect fashion, not losing a single moto and leading nearly every lap, there’s never been a better case to thin of Stewart as next year’s supercross champ—not even in 2007, when Stewart won the MX title, did he enter a season with this kind of momentum.
And you know Stewart isn’t satisfied just winning that elusive outdoor title. He may have this one off of his back, but you know the days of February, March and April, when he was stuck at home watching Reed take his title, still loom large in his mind.
The Reed versus Stewart battle is not a new one. They started facing off way back in 2002 at the East/West MX Shootout in Las Vegas. They have tangled and battled many, many times over the years, even finishing in a tie for second in the 2006 AMA Supercross Standings. But now they both will be coming off of a title, both will be motivated by new teams, and both think of themselves as the man. It’s the irresistible force and the immovable object—the best of both of them facing off.
From now until January when the Monster Energy Supercross Championship kicks off, the actual riding part between Reed and Stewart won’t be known. But their attitudes are easy to gauge. When the duo last faced off for a full tour, in 2007, Reed seemed to lose interest half way through the year, and was begging for a break by the time the final motocross event hit in May. A summer off seemed to rejuvenate Reedy, and while he’s not racing in the motocross tour this season, he’s itching at a chance to ride this time, instead of trying to stay as far away from a bike as possible.
For Stewart, most tracksiders will tell you he hasn’t been this approachable, this fun, or this enjoyable to work with in years. Winning helps, but rest does, too, and James’ missing the ’08 SX tour may have been just what he needed.
Still, it’s all conjecture at the moment. For a real riding preview, you may just see both of them face off twice in the off-season. They’ve been selected to represent their countries at the FIM Motocross of Nations in England in September, and then the real supercross preview comes with the Rockstar Energy Drink U.S. MX Open in Vegas this October.
And while Stewart wrapped up an AMA motocross outdoor championship this season like he was the only mx rider on the tracks, an hour later, Ryan Villopoto notched his third-straight AMA Motocross Lites Crown. Get RV into the Stewart and Reed mix, and you’ve got the makings of 2009’s Perfect Storm. Ready for the battle to begin? I know I am!