Yamaha and JGRMX on Daytona SX mudbath

The former champion finished on top of the podium after triumphing through a shortened Main Event (sixteen laps instead of the normal twenty) that was blighted by heavy rainfall and saw the elongated circuit in the Daytona Motor Speedway infield become rough, choppy and virtually flooded. Stewart finished ahead of team-mate Davi Millsaps who claimed his first top three classification in two years.


Millsaps who aced the holeshot is overtaken by Stewart.
 

Stewart in the earlier, muddier, heats.

It was Millsaps who aced the holeshot but was overtaken by Stewart – who had set the fastest lap by three seconds from the next rider in Timed Practice – inside two circulations and ‘JS7’ escaped to win the prestigious event in his home state.

"It was a tough and gnarly race,” said Stewart who now has 44 victories in the class and has tied with Jeremy McGrath in second place on the All-time SX/MX win list with 89. "Practice went really well, we set a good lap, won the heat race and got a good start. It was amazing and special to win Daytona for the second time.”

"It means a lot for us to get a win and to go 1-2 as a race team,” he added. "We had a lot of...I wouldn’t say bad luck but we had some struggles with starts - at least I have - and then some weird things happening. I’ve been saying if I got a start I felt like I could win one of these things. So tonight it was definitely good enough for me. So, I’m stoked."

"I’m definitely not going to complain about that start,” commented Millsaps. "I had a clean track but I saw James was going a lot faster. I’m just pumped to be up here. I held in here and did my best. This is the first time I’ve been on the podium since 2010 in Supercross. It’s special, especially being here in Daytona and how the conditions were, and all my family and friends coming to this race. It was definitely a good one for me."

With the absence of Ryan Dungey through a collarbone injury, Stewart is now just 15 points from second place in the standings and 44 behind leader Ryan Villopoto. Millsaps is sixth. Kyle Cunningham was seventh on the YZ250F at Daytona for what was the fourth outing for the East Coast Lites competition.

Round eleven takes place in the Lucas Oil Stadium of Indianapolis next Saturday.

Copy and images courtesy of Yamaha Motor Europe N.V.