Last week he won before nearly 47,000 fans in Phoenix, Arizona’s Chase Field, precisely seven days later, he did it again before a sell-out crowd in Anaheim, California’s Angel Stadium. And just as he did in the Valley of the Sun, James Stewart had to give it absolutely — and we mean EVERYTHING — he had to keep back bitter rival and adversary Chad Reed at the finish line. Off the gate and out of the first turn in sixth place, the San Manuel/Yamaha had to work the quirky Anaheim circuit hard to make headway, slowly clawing his way through the pack and up the electronic scoring pylon. At the 10-lap mark — the halfway mark of the 20-lap main Stewart zapped longtime Honda veteran Kevin Windham for the lead. The #7 rider then put the hammer down, slowly slithering away in attempt to find more daylight only to almost throw the whole thing away after casing the base of a big jump, the bike and Stewart both collapsing downward, a miraculous save keeping him on two wheels. A few swift kicks of the rear brake lever and he was back in business. Nonetheless, due to the gaffe, a fast closing Chad Reed — Reed’s lap times were, at times, 2.0 seconds quicker than Stewart’s on the 58-second course — smelled blood, passing Ryan Villopoto and then roaring past Windham on the white flag lap. And although Reed placed 3.5 seconds behind the winner Stewart, the Makita/Rockstar Suzuki pilot’s ride back from a first turn yard sale crash was a thing of pure beauty and determination. At the checkered flag, it was Windham holding station in third, followed across the line by rookie Ryan Villopoto, Josh Grant of the Joe Gibbs Racing Yamaha team and Honda Red Bull’s Andrew Short and Ivan Tedesco. Three rounds into the 17-round 2009 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series, Chad Reed now holds the points lead having surpassed former leader Josh Grant with his fine second place finish in California. Next stop: Houston, Texas is seven days time.

In round three of the AMA West Coast Lites Series, Makita/Rockstar Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey used a slick pass on leader Ryan Morais of the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki outfit to race away to his second race win in two consecutive weeks. Morais, the first rider out of the first corner, led the 250F pack out onto the slipper and somewhat treacherous AII course and held sway for the first four laps before Dungey made his passing move stick. From there, it was full sail to the finish, the Minnesota rider winning handsomely. Californian Ryan Morais held on to place second (“I rode as hard as long as I could,” said Morais afterwards) ahead of stable mater Jake Weimer . Boost Mobile/AMPM/Monster Energy/Troy Racing’s Jason Lawrence had a rough night, bad starts and small mistakes sending him back to fourth at the finish. Closing out the top five was Troy Lee Designs/Honda’s Chris Blose.