2006/2007 Toronto Supercross (450cc) Main (Chad Reed Vs. James Stewart)

This is the Supercross (450cc) Main from the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada.
In 2006, Yamaha's Chad Reed #22 came into the start of the 2006/2007 Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP with full expectations of his second Supercross title. The 2006 Supercross title fight came down to the final round in Las Vegas in May between Reed, Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael #4, and Kawasaki's James Stewart #7. It ended in triumph for both Carmichael and Stewart, and in heartbreak for Chad Reed. Carmichael walked away with his 5th Supercross title, Stewart walked away with the race win and the 2006 World Supercross GP title, and Reed ended up with nothing.
After Ricky Carmichael dominated his way to Motocross title #10 over the summer with 9 wins out of 12, he announced at the Vegas Supercross finale that he would race part-time in 2007. Carmichael won 17 of the 24 motos while Stewart took the other 7 motos and 3 overall wins; unfortunately, the 2006 season ended in a shock for Carmichael fans as he scored 0 points at the Glen Helen finale due to a crash in moto 1, and not reporting to the gate for moto 2. Carmichael suffered a soft tissue injury to his shoulder and was forced to withdraw from Team USA for the 2006 Motocross des Nations. His Suzuki teammate Ivan Tedesco took his place, and Team USA still brought home the bacon for the second straight year.
James Stewart also won the 2006 U.S. Open of Supercross in a head-to-head battle with Ricky Carmichael and new Xyience Honda privateer David Vuillemin #12. He was the odds-on favorite to win both the World Supercross title again, and the 2007 AMA Supercross title, too, with Ricky Carmichael going into retirement for 2008 and beyond, and moving to a NASCAR career.
In this opening round, #27 Nick Wey on his MDK privateer Honda got the holeshot. Carmichael started in 2nd, Reed started 3rd, and Stewart started around 8th or 9th. Carmichael crashed on lap 2 shortly after he was overtaken by Chad Reed. Reed got around Wey immediately and began pulling a gap while Carmichael remounted in 16th place in the 21-man field. Stewart fought up to 2nd around Wey, and his new Kawasaki teammate Tim Ferry #15. The race turned into a two-man fight for the lead once James caught up to Chad. They exchanged the lead 3 times in the final few laps until Reed unintentionally tapped Stewart's back wheel and Stewart jumped off the track. James threw no caution and re-entered the track in front of an airborne Travis Preston on his #11 Samsung Mobile Honda. Preston plowed into Stewart, sending them both to the ground. Stewart continued on while Preston, who was running 7th at the time, was done for the night. Carmichael fought through the pack to pass Stewart for 2nd on lap 19. At the checkers, it was Reed, Carmichael, and Stewart in that order, but the drama was just beginning.
After his 3rd place finish, James Stewart dropped to the ground and grabbed his right leg in pain. Tempers flared between Preston and the wounded Stewart, and Preston, who was credited with 16th, had to be restrained. In the end, Stewart was fined $6000 for that and a practice incident with Ivan Tedesco earlier in the day and placed on probation for the whole Supercross season. Stewart was on crutches the entire week and was considering bypassing the 2nd race at Vancouver. He showed up, led 18 laps, and finished 2nd to Carmichael. Toronto winner Chad Reed finished a distant 3rd.
When the AMA series started in January at Anaheim, Stewart didn't let that Toronto opener bother him. He dominated the series winning 13 races to Carmichael's 2, and Reed's 1 win in San Diego. Stewart would close the 2007 Supercross season winning the last 7 in a row from Daytona to Las Vegas, and ultimately, the 2007 Amp'd Mobile World and AMA Supercross Championships.
Enjoy.

[@boogiekush9391]

THANK YOU !

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

You're welcome! One of my favorite races ever.

[@powersportsenthusiast1986]

carmichael announced his retirement in vegas 06, not after the outdoor season. thanks for posting

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

Yes, that's right. Understanding that Ricky just wanted to go out on top.

[@powersportsenthusiast1986]

@@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames you gave a great description regardless

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

@@powersportsenthusiast1986 Glad you liked the description.

[@MrRacer7111]

Preston is handsome, the poor guy didn't let the camera suffer))

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

That's an odd comment on Preston. haha

[@pay2000]

Folks don't wanna talk bout RC fuel infraction situation

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

Because it was old news and because RC was refunded his points, it was deemed to be moot.

[@mxr7586]

Stewart caught Reed 3 times then past him and instead of messing with him he should have rode his race and pulled away. Reed hitting his rear tire on the jump didn’t help either.

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

Agreed. James certainly had no reason to rush things like that, and the fact the AMA didn't overlook his controversial riding, justice was definitely served there. It doesn't pay to ride like that in the end.

[@mxr7586]

@@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames ya he played Reeds game. Reed would always try to take Bubba out in a lot of races but when James would stick to just passing and go forward he would beat Reed. But when he does what Reed does it ends up hurting him.

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

@@mxr7586 I think James was craving the battle like how Ricky does, but Chad Reed didn't give up and just let James run away and hide (you gotta give Reed credit there). I'm glad he didn't go down without a fight, and he managed to get the win over Stewart.

[@johnnybgood774]

James was just better period and had fun making reed look like a bitch lol

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

@@johnnybgood774 Then the shoe was on the other foot after Stew threw his career away going SX-only at the prime of his career.

[@yamahakid450f]

James did a lot of bone head selfish moves, but you sometimes have to have that attitude at the top of the sport. He was upset, wanted to win and immediately drive it back in on Reed but it costed him and Preston big time. I’ve seen a lot of moves like that by James. He was obviously fired up, but coming over like that on Reed near the base of a jump, it wasn’t smart... Reed had no where to go, maybe James thought he was farther back, idk. It wasn’t reeds fault, just one of those things. He already pulled a few, I’m not gonna say dirty, but aggressive moves on Reed leading up to that. I don’t get why, he could easily calm down, play it safe until the right moment opens up and then check out... it wasn’t like they had pressure from behind, they were gone.

[@MathewVsSportsMediaandGames]

Agreed. In the end, it doesn't pay to ride the way Stewart did that night in Toronto. That landed him in a BIG heap of trouble with a season's worth of probation and a $6,000 fine when you add in the practice incident with Tedesco. The way Stewart did that is like jaywalking in the street. James certainly became known for a lot of incidents like this that couldn't be overlooked. I certainly didn't overlook them. Agreed again on those moves with Reed. Plus I also agree 100% that it wasn't Reed's fault. Things do happen. Stewart was obviously caught up in the battle for the win, and part of me doesn't blame him for that. What happened with Preston was very dangerous, and that certainly defined him as a racer. He did the same thing with Windham at A1 2009. When James Stewart is down, he doesn't heed to oncoming traffic -- conscious or dizzy. Sometimes, I thought Reed was too nice, but going to the extremes James did was certainly crossing lines and a sure way to make a ton of enemies out there.