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Supercross & Motocross
SX: Talent Is No Longer Enough
James Stewart remains the fastest man in the Monster Energy Supercross field but that alone is no longer good enough.
JGRMX/Toyota/Yamaha's James Stewart (Photo: Yamaha Racing)
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Round 3 of the Monster Energy Supercross Lites West Championship from Los Angeles, CA will air on SPEED Monday, January 23 at 12:00pm ET. #SXonSPEED
A 17-point deficit just two races into the 2012 Monster Energy Supercross season is nothing for a rider blessed with James Stewart's sublime talent. Stewart is more than capable of ripping off multiple victories in succession and turning this early-season championship outlook on its head in a month's time.
His speed is not in question. His speed has never been in question, and as much as people like to say how evenly matched the top four racers are these days, Stewart still has them all overmatched when it comes to pure pace.
However, it's become increasingly obvious that talent and pace alone are not enough, not anymore. The JGRMX superstar can no longer expect to lazily roll out of the gates and still easily pick his way up through the field en route to victory. He can't be confident that he can take a big gamble whenever he feels like it and still be solidly in contention even if that gamble doesn't pay off.
In a way this is Stewart's own (unintentional) doing. In recent years the bar has been raised in large part in response to Stewart's remarkable prowess. Riders like Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey have come up through the ranks with Stewart as both their role model and their target; they've been forced to push their bodies and raise their riding to limits that otherwise might have seemed impossible if not for JS7's example. Meanwhile, longtime rival Chad Reed has been driven to reinvent himself with the aim of taking Stewart down a notch at every opportunity.
While developing all-time greats themselves, none can boast Stewart's innate skills. And as a result, these three riders have grown adept at balancing on the razor's edge while maintaining their focus. They are 'death by a thousand cuts'-type racers who will maximize their points tally by getting the most out of their ability and machinery on any given night. That makes for a very difficult position for Stewart, especially when one of them -- Villopoto -- is nearly as fast and considerably more consistent.
A tortoise vs. hare contest when there are three (very fleet) tortoises is that much more difficult for the hare. Maybe he can expect one of them to end up road kill along the way but hoping for misfortune to strike down all three down in order to level the odds is a bit optimistic.
Stewart has the tools to reassert his dominance over this field. However, it's going to take the same level of focus, commitment, and consistency routinely demonstrated by his rivals. They took a page from his book to meet his challenge -- now it's time for him to respond in kind. There's no more room to botch starts, blow five-second leads due to lapses of concentration and the resultant mistakes, or even let the mind wander between rounds dreaming of a NASCAR future.
If James Stewart is to right the ship and truly cement the sort of racing legacy his talent deserves, he must up his game and prove that he is a complete racer, not just a once-in-a-generation talent.
SPEED.com Motorcycle Racing Editor Chris Martin saw Eddie Lawson win aboard a Kawasaki the first time he attended an AMA Superbike race and witnessed Ben Bostrom win a World Superbike race aboard a V&H Ducati the first time he worked one. He has written about AMA SBK, WSBK, and MotoGP for SPEED.com since 2003. Chris is now on Twitter.
A 17-point deficit just two races into the 2012 Monster Energy Supercross season is nothing for a rider blessed with James Stewart's sublime talent. Stewart is more than capable of ripping off multiple victories in succession and turning this early-season championship outlook on its head in a month's time.
His speed is not in question. His speed has never been in question, and as much as people like to say how evenly matched the top four racers are these days, Stewart still has them all overmatched when it comes to pure pace.
However, it's become increasingly obvious that talent and pace alone are not enough, not anymore. The JGRMX superstar can no longer expect to lazily roll out of the gates and still easily pick his way up through the field en route to victory. He can't be confident that he can take a big gamble whenever he feels like it and still be solidly in contention even if that gamble doesn't pay off.
In a way this is Stewart's own (unintentional) doing. In recent years the bar has been raised in large part in response to Stewart's remarkable prowess. Riders like Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey have come up through the ranks with Stewart as both their role model and their target; they've been forced to push their bodies and raise their riding to limits that otherwise might have seemed impossible if not for JS7's example. Meanwhile, longtime rival Chad Reed has been driven to reinvent himself with the aim of taking Stewart down a notch at every opportunity.
While developing all-time greats themselves, none can boast Stewart's innate skills. And as a result, these three riders have grown adept at balancing on the razor's edge while maintaining their focus. They are 'death by a thousand cuts'-type racers who will maximize their points tally by getting the most out of their ability and machinery on any given night. That makes for a very difficult position for Stewart, especially when one of them -- Villopoto -- is nearly as fast and considerably more consistent.
A tortoise vs. hare contest when there are three (very fleet) tortoises is that much more difficult for the hare. Maybe he can expect one of them to end up road kill along the way but hoping for misfortune to strike down all three down in order to level the odds is a bit optimistic.
Stewart has the tools to reassert his dominance over this field. However, it's going to take the same level of focus, commitment, and consistency routinely demonstrated by his rivals. They took a page from his book to meet his challenge -- now it's time for him to respond in kind. There's no more room to botch starts, blow five-second leads due to lapses of concentration and the resultant mistakes, or even let the mind wander between rounds dreaming of a NASCAR future.
If James Stewart is to right the ship and truly cement the sort of racing legacy his talent deserves, he must up his game and prove that he is a complete racer, not just a once-in-a-generation talent.
SPEED.com Motorcycle Racing Editor Chris Martin saw Eddie Lawson win aboard a Kawasaki the first time he attended an AMA Superbike race and witnessed Ben Bostrom win a World Superbike race aboard a V&H Ducati the first time he worked one. He has written about AMA SBK, WSBK, and MotoGP for SPEED.com since 2003. Chris is now on Twitter.
SX Seattle
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