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Yamaha defend King of Bercy title
Yamaha conquered an eventful weekend of Supercross at Bercy, Paris to stand atop the podium for the second year in succession. San Manuel Yamaha rider James Stewart had won Friday and Saturday evenings of the three night affair in the French capital but withdrew from Sunday’s final showdown after complaining of sickness and dizzy spells. The overall crown was therefore won by American and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Justin Brayton who had played second fiddle to AMA and FIM World Supercross champion all weekend.
A triumphant Justin Brayton of Joe Gibbs Racing, USA.
After winning the US Open in Las Vegas last month 23 year old Stewart was peerless on the new YZ450F on Friday and Saturday, only a small slip in the first heat on Saturday prevented the Floridian from extending his 100% record. Surprisingly, after winning the first two outings on Sunday, he was not able to complete the final sprint and Iowan Brayton (who won the last AMA Motocross National moto of 2009 and participated in one Supercross round this year) was able to scoop the prestigious ‘King of Bercy’ title by finishing 5th. In another interesting development for Yamaha, new San Manuel rider Josh Hill was able to take the chequered flag in the very last heat of the evening, the one in which Stewart was absent.
Prior to his visit to the medical centre on Sunday evening Stewart was in electric form and clearly enjoying his second visit to Paris and the event that he dominated in 2008. "It's always great to come to Bercy, the crowd is awesome and they treat me so well over here,” he said. “Last year I just changed to Yamaha and I wanted to prove for myself the Yamaha was the right pick, I was still getting used to the bike and it was more a matter of having fun and enjoying the show. This year there is no pressure for this race, I even started too relaxed in the practice. After I got back to business and it went a lot better from then on.”
Stewart decided this throne was even more awesome than his new bike, and sat out the last race.
“The new Yamaha is awesome, it is very different but I had a good feeling since the first day and we have already found some comfortable base settings for the bike,” he added. “I'm working to get ready for Anaheim 1 in January now; we still have a long way to go but we will be ready."
The 17 round 2010 AMA Supercross series (also and FIM World Championship) starts on January 9th at the Angel Stadium, Anaheim in Los Angeles.
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