For this edition of "What Really Happened" I'm going to concentrate on two major points: First, the Kevin Windham/James Stewart battle; and second, the Tomac/Tickle battle.
James Stewart (7) had his hands full with Kevin Windham in Las Vegas before he went down. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

Let's start in the Lites class. The Lites East was pretty much handled by the time we got to Vegas. Justin Barcia had finished no worse than second all year and needed only 15th to win the title. But in the Lites West? Because Eli Tomac had two wins to Broc Tickle's one win, but trailed Tickle by two points, it meant that if they were both in the top five (which was expected), whichever guy beat the other would be the champ.

And the Lites West main lived up to expectations, and then some. Barcia's GEICO Powersports Honda teammate Tomac ended up being forced to duke it out with four guys, all of whom were on Tickle's side. One of the four was Tickle himself, and then there was Josh Hansen (Tickle's teammate), and Kyle Cunningham and Cole Seely, who are both friends of Tickle's.
Broc Tickle's friends Cole Seely (36) and Kyle Cunningham (35) congratulate him on his championship after the main event. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

Still, neither Tickle nor Tomac folded under the pressure. They both pushed hard during the race and rode as smart as they could, but even when no one folds, someone has to lose. Tomac fought hard, but ultimately an untimely tangle with Cunningham allowed Tickle, in the right place at the right time, to squeeze by them both late in the main to take second, while Tomac got fourth. Tickle got the title.

But really the big point here is that neither of them folded under the pressure. This is big for both of them. Tomac had a lot of trouble with pressure (and effects of heat stroke from the Texas National) last year during the nationals, but that looks like it's not much of a problem anymore for him. He's going to be tough to beat outdoors.
Eli Tomac (19) was in packs like this throughout the main event and came up just short at the finish. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

And Tickle in the past has always had trouble with pressure, because he puts so much pressure on himself to succeed. But over the last couple of years, he has gotten a handle on that, starting with pulling off his first win in Seattle last year. He has never lacked outward confidence, but I'm pretty sure Yoda said something about self-doubt that was smart, and I listen to him.

With that kind of confidence, those two are about to become threats wherever they race, and in whichever class.

And on to the 450cc main: Kevin Windham is a bad dude. He's 33 years old and still hauls. But he has hit the deck way too many times this year for a guy of that age; 33 is like 150 in MX years. He's fragile. But the tough part is when it's not your fault, and this is the second time in three years that he has run into a downed James Stewart in the whoops. Remember Anaheim 1 in 2009? Stewart pushed his bike right in front of K-Dub as he was skimming the whoops. This time, Stewart just went over the bars right in front of K-Dub. You can't change direction in the whoops (on purpose, and without crashing) very well. And stopping is even harder.
Only one way to stop in the middle of the whoops: going over the bars. K-Dub demonstrates. (Out of picture, James Stewart's downed Yamaha.) (Photo: CoxMX.com)

If not for the fall, though, I think one of those two would've won the main, and honestly I think it would've been Windham. His bike setup is better (even though he joked at the banquet that his setup for skimming Yamahas isn't so good) and he was making up tons of time through the back sweeper. And besides, K-Dub is the personification of throttle control. After following Stewart over the quad after the track's big triple, Windham also showed that he had enough fire in him to match Stewart "trick for trick" so to speak.

So, although Windham only has one podium finish this year, I think Vegas was the second "one that got away" for him this year, with the other being Houston. Come back next year, you old man. (Yes, I just turned 34.)
Windham (14) and Stewart (7) going at it in the Vegas main event. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

Stewart Makes it Two-in-a-Row with Convincing Win in Seattle

Cole Seely Dominates En Route to Supercross Lites Victory

SEATTLE, Wash. (April 16, 2011) - A strong Pacific Northwest audience of 52,683 fans showed their dedication to the sport and braved cold temperatures as Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, invaded Seattle's Qwest Field on Saturday. The 15^th race of the season saw San Manuel Yamaha's James Stewart, of Haines City, Fla., take his second straight win with another strong outing as he fights his way back into the Supercross class title fight. Troy Lee Designs/Lucas Oil Honda's Cole Seely, of Corona, Calif., raced to his second victory of the season with a convincing effort in the return of the Supercross Lites Western Regional Championship.

As the gates dropped on the Supercross class main event, Dodge/Hart & Huntington Kawasaki's Ivan Tedesco, of Murrieta, Calif., grabbed the Nuclear Cowboyz^® Holeshot for the second week in-a-row with Stewart and TwoTwo Motorsports/Bel-Ray Racing Honda's Chad Reed, of Tampa, Fla., in tow. Behind them, championship points leader Ryan Villopoto, of Poulsbo, Wash., went down in the first corner and was forced to come from deep in the field aboard his Monster Energy Kawasaki.

Reed got by Tedesco quickly and looked to pull away, but tricky track conditions as a result of a week of heavy rain caused a slight bobble and allowed Stewart to take over the top spot, which he held for the entire 20 laps.

"Tonight was awesome," said Stewart. "I had fun all day. I thought the track was awesome, it was so tough. I was just trying to stay consistent because I knew it was going crazy behind me. You can look out there and see how rough it is, but my San Manuel Yamaha was working awesome. I'm looking forward to Salt Lake City."

Aside from Stewart, every rider in contention for the title experienced an instance of misfortune as both Reed and Rockstar/Makita Suzuki's Ryan Dungey, of Belle Plaine, Minn., joined Villopoto with the distinction of falling to the ground.

In the end, veteran rider and defending Seattle winner Kevin Windham, of Centreville, Miss., secured his best finish of the season in second aboard his GEICO Honda while Reed fended off Villopoto for third. Dungey brought home a fifth-place effort.

As the championship enters the final two races of the 2011 Monster Energy Supercross season, just nine points separate Villopoto, who sits atop the standings, and Stewart, who occupies fourth. Reed sits in second, six points behind, while Dungey is third, seven points out.

Seely was the first rider to the Nuclear Cowboyz^® Holeshot in the 15-lap Supercross Lites main event and led wire-to-wire in a race that was similar to his first-career win earlier in the season in Los Angeles. After riding select Supercross class races during the midseason Western Regional Supercross Lites break, his additional race experience factored into his performance.

"It feels great to come back and get win," said Seely. "I've been practicing my starts and my biked hooked up tonight and worked great. I think the extra time on the big bikes really helped prepare me to come back."

Behind him, there was considerable shuffling, particularly amongst the three challengers in the championship. Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki teammates Josh Hansen, of Elbert, Colo., and Broc Tickle, of Holly, Mich., both ran towards the front of the field, but in the end, GEICO Honda's Eli Tomac, of Cortez, Colo., surpassed them both to take the runner-up spot. Tickle secured the final step on the podium and took over the points lead in the process. After starting third, Hansen fell to sixth and now sits two points from Tickle in the standings while Tomac sits seven points out in third.

Supercross Class Results: Seattle

1. James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Yamaha

2. Kevin Windham, Centreville, Miss., Honda

3. Chad Reed, Tampa, Fla., Honda

4. Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki

5. Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., Suzuki

6. Mike Alessi, Victorville, Calif., KTM

7. Kyle Regal, Murrieta, Calif., Yamaha

8. Davi Millsaps, Carlsbad, Calif., Yamaha

9. Tommy Hahn, Decatur, Texas, Yamaha

10. Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, KTM

Supercross Class Season Standings

1. Ryan Villopoto, Poulsbo, Wash., Kawasaki - 293

2. Chad Reed, Tampa, Fla., Honda - 287

3. Ryan Dungey, Belle Plaine, Minn., Suzuki - 286

4. James Stewart, Haines City, Fla., Yamaha - 284

5. Trey Canard, Shawnee, Okla., Honda - 255

6. Andrew Short, Smithville, Texas, KTM - 196

7. Kevin Windham, Centreville, Miss., Honda - 187

8. Davi Millsaps, Carlsbad, Calif., Yamaha - 156

9. Justin Brayton, Cornelius, N.C, Yamaha - 141

10. Ivan Tedesco, Murrieta, Calif., Kawasaki - 134

Western Regional Supercross Lites Class Results: Seattle

1. Cole Seely, Corona, Calif., Honda

2. Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Honda

3. Broc Tickle, Holly, Mich., Kawasaki

4. Kyle Cunningham, Aledo, Texas, Yamaha

5. Tyla Rattray, Wildomar, Calif., Kawasaki

6. Josh Hansen, Elbert, Colo., Kawasaki

7. Ryan Morais, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki

8. Martin Davalos, Cairo, Ga., Suzuki

9. Travis Baker, Temecula, Calif., Honda

10. Gared Steinke, Woodland, Calif., Kawasaki

Western Regional Supercross Lites Class Season Standings

1. Broc Tickle, Holly, Mich., Kawasaki - 145

2. Josh Hansen, Elbert, Colo., Kawasaki - 143

3. Eli Tomac, Cortez, Colo., Honda - 138

4. Cole Seely, Corona, Calif., Honda - 113

5. Ryan Morais, Murrieta, Calif., Suzuki - 110

6. Tyla Rattray, Wildomar, Calif., Kawasaki - 96

7. Kyle Cunningham, Aledo, Texas, Yamaha - 89

8. Ken Roczen, Germany, KTM - 83

9. Martin Davalos, Cairo, Ga., Suzuki - 82

10. Jimmy Decotis, Peabody, Mass., Honda - 67

Obviously, there has been a lot of talk during the past week about San Manuel Yamaha's James Stewart, and it hasn't much involved his racing. He was arrested last week for "impersonating a police officer" because he used some police-like lights in his pickup truck reportedly to ask someone to slow down on the freeway in Florida. We talked to him mostly about his racing, and how this incident affected his racing this week in Dallas, where he finished fourth, because until this legal issue is finished, one way or the other, he's unable to comment on the incident itself.

Motocross.com: All right, James, to say you've had a rough few weeks is putting it pretty mildly for you. What's this like from your perspective?
James Stewart: Well, you know, one thing I've got going is I'm riding fast. There have just been some unfortunate incidents here and there, just with the racing; Jacksonville, Daytona, Atlanta... You know, it's definitely been tough, for sure, but like I said, I think the positive is that I've been riding good, and we'll just keep fighting. You know, we'll keep fighting 'til the end. But it definitely hasn't gone the way I predicted it was going, especially leaving California. But I honestly think I've been riding better; just things haven't been clicking. So, we'll get it...

It didn't look like you intentionally ran into Chad Reed tonight, and those whoops were definitely gnarly, but do you have a plan to start to stem these sort of incidents? Because they seem to be happening a lot...
Well, I mean, my thing wasn't a blatant take-out, so I can't really fix that, you know? If I did try to go and take him out, you know, it'd be different. But even if I did, I don't think he really has a lot of room to talk on the whole situation... I wasn't trying to do that, and it's kind of hard to fix things like that because it's kind of out of my control. I swapped through the whoops and thank God he was there because I would probably have been eating popcorn in the stands. And then they [Feld] would have torn down the berms again [as the berms over the past few years have been relatively flat due to an incident with Matt Goerke in Indy years ago] and then I would have been to blame for it. And the Jacksonville deal was just unfortunate. It's hard to deal with things like that because I can't pinpoint one thing that I'm trying to do different, you know?
Although James Stewart's head was chopped off in the photo, this shows how he got out of control in the whoops, then careened into Chad Reed, causing them both to go down. Reed got the worst of it, ending up out on the concrete on the backside of the berm. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

When we talked on Press Day in Jacksonville, you said you'd never go on the Asterisk Mule unless you couldn't walk, and then two days later you had to take the ride back on the Asterisk Mule...
Yeah...

How bad were you hurt?
I was banged up pretty good, to the point where I felt like I broke my back. You know, I felt like I got stabbed in the back. And then I got to a point where I felt like I was okay and then was telling them, "Let me off [of the Asterisk Mule]." I was like, "Get me out of this thing. I will limp back to my truck." But they were doing everything they possibly could and they wouldn't let me out. It was kind of ironic how I just said that, then ended up on the Mule, so let me say this: Next week, I want to dominate and be gone 20, 30 seconds out front just riding by myself. Maybe since I said that, it will come true! [Laughs]

I know this is a touchy thing right now, but with you ending up in the news and all of that this week, how do you concentrate on racing after a week like this one?
Well, racing's the thing I love doing, and for me, I've always had to deal with tough situations on the track, like Jacksonville, Daytona... I got beat up and I'm just not going to quit. So I'm here trying my best at doing it.

To have all of this negative press, but then to come out in opening ceremonies and have the fans cheer for you with almost no boos at all, what does that tell you?
I think it's cool to have the fans. My fans love me and I think they really appreciate how hard I ride and things like that. It's definitely special how they treated me.
A little while before the collision, Reed (22) caught and passed Stewart (7) in the main event. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

Did you have any anxiety or expectations about how the fans were going to treat you?
No, like I said, I think they see how much effort I put into racing and, like I said, with everything that happened, I was still here this weekend trying my best. And again, things didn't go right in the race, but I'll be there next week and keep it going. I mean, it is what it is. I just have to be the person that I know I am and then hopefully the people see the person that I am, too.

James Stewart was arrested yesterday and was apparently charged with "impersonating a police officer". I'll tell the facts as we know them here, and then I'll deliver a little bit of perspective.

The Facts:

According to news articles, Stewart and his passenger were out messing around and used blue-and-red police-style lights to pull over a car, then stopped next to the car to "yell something" at the driver, and the driver presented a badge showing that they were an off-duty police officer.

Stewart fled the scene, and his passenger threw the lights in his luggage, as he was about to take a flight from Orlando International Airport. The passenger, his longtime friend Rado (the guy featured in his Rick James videos and whatnot), was charged with tampering with evidence.

Stewart has posted bail and was released today.

The Perspective:

James Stewart is guilty of doing something very stupid. But he's not guilty of doing anything malicious. He wasn't planning on harming anybody, and he didn't harm anybody. People all over the internet are freaking out and making character judgments against James Stewart, and it's simply unnecessary.

Here's some perspective:

In June of 2003, motorcycling's golden boy Travis Pastrana made headlines when he went out in his Chevrolet Corvette and, as I understand it, tried to do a jump on a back road near his home. He tried to jump from one hump in the road to another, and in order to do it, he head to be going extraordinarily fast.

He crashed his car, and his passenger, Matt Bigos, was paralyzed. Bigos still suffers from paralysis, but he's a cyclist now and the last I checked he was doing much better. He can walk and cycle, but he's definitely not "back to normal" or anything like that.
James Stewart has not won lately, and that's a big part of why this is such a big deal to so many people. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

While people did come down on Pastrana for it, it quickly went away. And only a few years later, Pastrana had a television show doing stunts like that and making money doing it in The Nitro Circus on MTV.

James Stewart's mistake here isn't even in the same zip code as Pastrana's. And on top of it, no one was hurt, except for Stewart's pride.

I also don't think many people would really care about this at all if Stewart had been winning. If he had won the last four races, then this happened, many of the people who are giving him crap for it would shrug and move on. But because he's not winning right now, which is unusual for him, he is being crucified. People are saying that this behavior is why he's not winning.

Well, how do we know that? How do we know he wasn't pulling stupid pranks (and that's all this seems to be) when he was dominating in 2009? Or any other year? We don't know. We only know about this because of the horrible luck of pulling over a car carrying two Florida State Troopers and one sheriff's deputy.

And obviously Stewart hasn't had much in the way of luck lately out on the track, either.

So, while I think Stewart will freely admit that he did something incredibly stupid, I think we all need to look at our own lives and think of the stupid stuff we've done, because for many of us, the only difference is that we aren't famous, and we weren't caught.
James Stewart is a happy-go-lucky kind of guy most of the time, as you can see here in this photo from Jacksonville. He did something stupid, but not malicious. There's a big difference. (Photo: CoxMX.com)

James "Bubba" Stewart, a supercross icon in the midst of a post-injury comeback, was arrested Monday in his home state of Florida and charged with impersonating an officer.

Stewart, a former champion who is widely regarded as the sport's fastest rider, was behind the wheel of a 2008 Toyota Tundra pickup and, according state troopers, attempted to pull over over another vehicle by using red-and-blue flashing lights placed on the dashboard. This occurred at about 5 p.m.

In that other vehicle were two off-duty Florida Highway Patrol troopers. They identified themselves when Stewart pulled alongside their vehicle, and dialed "911" after Stewart sped away.

Stewart, 25, who is in fourth place in the race for this year's AMA Supercross Series championship, was pulled over by police and a deputy sheriff at Orlando International Airport.

Stewart and his passenger, Quinault Thames Jehrrod, were subsequently booked. Jehrrod, who is from California, was charged with tampering with evidence after stashing the red-and-blue lights in his luggage, troopers said.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Stewart was released at about 2:50 a.m. He was greeted by several people and whisked away in a white Ranger Rover. It remains unclear why the incident occurred. A spokesman for Red Bull, which is Stewart's primary sponsor, declined to comment.

Stewart in 2002 was named AMA Supercross and Motocross Rookie of the Year in his debut pro season. He won back-to-back supercross and motocross titles in 2004 and through his career claimed a combined seven titles. In 2008 he became only the second motocross racer to enjoy a perfect season, winning every moto, in claiming the AMA Motocross championship.

In 2003, Stewart was named by Teen People as one of "20 teens who will change the world." He's presently starring in the FuelTv reality series, "Bubba's World."

The rider was sidelined most of last season because of injuries. There are five competitions remaining on this year's supercross circuit. The next event is Saturday in Arlington, Texas.

-- Images: Police mug shot (top) and action photo, courtesy of Motocross.com.