2008 National Champion James Stewart Officially Returns to the Lucas Oil Motocross Championship – Highly-Anticipated Return Will Come at Unadilla – MX Sports News Release
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (August 10, 2010) – MX Sports Pro Racing has released the pre-entry list for this Saturday’s Rockstar Energy Unadilla National from New Berlin, N.Y., and as expected, a familiar and highly anticipated name is on the form. It’s been 23 months since he last completed a lap at an AMA Motocross national event, but in just six days, San Manuel Yamaha’s James Stewart will return to the sport for his Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship debut on Saturday, August 14.
Since capturing the 2008 AMA Motocross Championship with just the third perfect season in the sport’s history, Stewart shifted his focus primarily to AMA Supercross after joining the San Manuel Yamaha team. During his absence, the entire landscape of American motocross has shifted, with live national television coverage, worldwide internet coverage, and a deeper, more talented field of riders highlighted by more international stars than ever before.
And to make the most anticipated return in American motocross history even more exciting, all the drama and action from New York will unfold live on NBC Sports with coverage of the final 450 Class moto beginning at 3 p.m. ET.
With millions of motocross fans from around the globe yearning for his return (and an industry-wide curiosity about how he’ll fare), in addition to the opportunity to be a part of the sport’s continued growth, the world’s most popular motocross athlete couldn’t resist the chance to come back to his roots. With the rise of 450 Class rookie and reigning AMA Supercross Champion Ryan Dungey, Stewart will look to end his former prodigy’s stranglehold on the premier class by competing at the final four rounds of the 2010 season: Unadilla, Southwick, Steel City, and Pala.
“We couldn’t be happier to have James Stewart return to American motocross,” said MX Sports Pro Racing Vice President Davey Coombs. “James is clearly the biggest star in our sport, and ever since he made history en route to the 2008 title, we’ve all been waiting for this day to come. The sport of motocross and this series in particular has experienced tremendous growth in the year and a half James has been off the tour, and with his return, it will reach new levels that we could have only dreamed of.”
“My goal is to do the best I can in the motocross nationals,” said Stewart, whose last competitive motocross competition was the 2008 Motocross of Nations. “While I haven’t had a lot of time to test and train, I committed to running the last four races of the series, and I feel I need to do this-for myself as a rider, for my team, my sponsors, and my fans. I’m looking forward to racing in Unadilla.”
Stewart’s San Manuel Yamaha Team Manager Larry Brooks is also supportive of his rider’s return and his team’s foray into the outdoors.
“James’ supercross season was cut short this year, and this is a perfect opportunity for him to get back on the track and race,” said Brooks. “We owe it to him to support him, as much as we do to the sponsors and fans that support our team and the series. We look forward to racing the remainder of the motocross nationals.”
With Dungey leading the way aboard his Rockstar/Makita Suzuki with a seven-race winning streak, Stewart will surely have his fair share of challengers at Unadilla, including Honda Red Bull Racing’s Andrew Short, GEICO Powersports Honda’s Brett Metcalfe, Jagermeister KTM’s Mike Alessi, and Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil Honda’s Ben Townley. There will also be some added competition, as Belgian motocross star Clement Desalle returns to the AMA Motocross circuit for a cameo appearance under the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki tent. Desalle is currently ranked second in the Europe-based FIM Grand Prix series.
450 Class Pre-Entry List 250 Class Pre-Entry List
# First Last # First Last
0 Jason Lawrence 12 Jake Weimer
5 Ryan Dungey 17 Justin Barcia
7 James Stewart 19 Tommy Searle
9 Ivan Tedesco 20 Broc Tickle
10 Thomas Hahn 21 Blake Wharton
14 Kevin Windham 28 Tyla Rattray
23 Justin Brayton 31 Matthew Lemoine
24 Brett Metcalfe 38 Trey Canard
26 Michael Byrne 48 Max Anstie
27 Nicholas Wey 50 Alex Martin
29 Andrew Short 61 Vince Friese
33 Josh Grant 64 Taylor Futrell
35 Matthew Goerke 87 Les Smith
41 Kyle Regal 90 Willy Browning
42 Ben Evans 92 Michael Willard
43 Steven Clarke 108 Dean Wilson
46 Ryan Sipes 126 Hunter Hewitt
55 Kyle Chisholm 133 Myles Tedder
57 Jarred Browne 140 Johnny Moore
58 Weston Peick 160 Corey Pennington
88 Ricky Renner 166 Dakota Tedder
101 Ben Townley 175 Phillip Nicoletti
122 Daniel Reardon 185 Killy Rusk
134 Travis Sewell 200 Cole Seely
190 Matt Boron 204 David Gassin
196 Tyler Wharton 211 Tevin Tapia
209 Heath Harrison 225 Tyler McEwen
216 Jared Boothroyd 238 Ben Robinson
236 Sean Kranyak 243 Eli Tomac
237 David Costa 244 Ryan Zimmer
241 Derek Anderson 285 Tony Archer
251 Joshua Clark 288 Dillon Alexander
261 Jacob Morrison 308 Nicholas Jackson
280 Ryan Gainey 319 Brian ONeal
292 Austin Howell 330 A.J. Catanzaro
300 Kurtis Manderscheid 332 James Palmer
309 Spencer Dally 339 Michael Thacker
317 Richard White 341 Nico Izzi
351 Shane Sewell 348 Jason Brooks
365 John Vergalito 349 Eric Saunders
366 Thomas Addy 370 Drew Yenerich
369 Ryan Shonyo 377 Christophe Pourcel
376 Ray Leybovich 448 Brandon Conkel
388 Bryan Wallace 449 Dakota Kessler
408 Paul Lamb 484 Jonathan Ecklund
436 Billy Larsen 498 Cody Robbins
451 Rashidi Kerrison 505 Sean Lipanovich
462 Michael Starace 515 Michael Sottile
463 Clemente Desalle 520 Tony Gallo
471 Ryan Zimmerman 521 Kyle Gills
509 Kyle Hangos 529 Lowell Spangler
514 Anthony Roth 565 Preston Mull
547 Adam Blessing 566 Logan Martin
557 Jay Weller 577 Martin Davalos
597 Mitchell Dougherty 585 Travis Baker
606 Ronnie Stewart 603 Tommy Weeck
612 Ryan Desrosiers 622 Christopher Pugrab
652 Dustin Pipes 632 Thomas Mudgett Jr.
663 Michael Hacia 659 Justin Freund
687 Garret Toth 673 Jonathan Six
702 Cameron Stone 678 Nicolas Myers
707 Alexander Millican 690 Ricky Winters
711 Ronnie Goodwin 698 Derek Hall
712 Matt Moss 704 Christopher Akaydin
718 Matt Schneider 709 Tyler Bright
724 William Bryant 731 Steve Roman
750 Jared Hicks 739 Nicholas Kruger
752 Justin Coley 761 Derek Almy
760 Tyler Wozney 828 Lee Chavous
763 Corey Ahl 861 Eric Montreuil
769 Taylor Beltz 878 Eric McKay
771 Terren ODell 880 Canaan Barrilleaux
774 Robby Marshall 886 Chase Couture
781 Chris Laughnane 900 Michael Ross
794 Michael Leavitt 923 Scott Zont
800 Mike Alessi 948 Joseph Zambotti III
801 Jeff Alessi 950 W. Gregg Duffy Jr.
804 Jason Langford Jr. 961 Josh Emmi
822 John Price 962 Eric Brown
836 Kyle Willis 972 Michael Picone
838 Chris Carr 991 Branden Miller
873 Jack Carpenter 998 Chris Lykens
876 Sunny Drake
883 Matt Weaver
933 Zane Hodges
958 Aden de Jager
964 Derek Stephens
970 Darrin Mees
987 Matthew Babbitt
For tickets and fan and racing information on the 2010 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship, log on to www.allisports.com/motocross.
About the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship
The Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship is the world’s most prestigious motocross series. The Series is managed and produced by MX Sports Pro Racing, whose mission is to raise awareness of motocross racing through the promotion of professional championship racing events nationwide.
The series is also produced in conjunction with Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports, a global business that encompasses national and international action sports events, multimedia production and a consumer-based lifestyle brand.
Alli is owned by NBC Sports and MTV Networks and represents a vast network of athletes, fans, brands and properties.
The Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross series is sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, the premier professional motorcycle racing organization in North America. AMA Pro Racing operates a full schedule of events and championships across every spectrum of motorcycle competition.
