After leaping over all the hoops any other rider would have to jump through to win championships, it seemed obvious that James Stewart was on his way to the 2007 Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Championship and the Amp’d Mobile World SXGP Title. Plus, his main rival Chad Reed had spent the season riding like the pistons in a twin-cylinder engine: up and down, up and down. Reed was down far enough in Indianapolis to stop Stewart’s 20th-to-first charge for the win. But he was up again in Dallas, nearly passing him for the win after starting behind him. Detroit, then, would be another down for Reed, who struggled with a bad start early and just didn’t produce the type of inspired ride he had the week before (much like his lackluster performance in Houston the week after nearly beating Stewart heads-up in Anaheim).

But poor performances for Reed are relative: he still bests everyone else in the world even on his bad days. Stewart grabbed the early lead in Detroit, with his teammate Tim Ferry in tow. Ferry had been pushing hard to find the next level all year, trying to manufacturer the speed to hang with his teammate and challenge Reed. He found that speed early, sticking fairly close to Stewart and pulling far away from the rest of the field, including Kevin Windham in third. Ferry was pushing every corner hard, claiming he was riding faster than he had ever gone on a supercross track. But after a few laps and a few mistakes, Stewart had gapped him, and reality set it. Ferry had 15 more laps of racing to go, and he had spent a lot of energy during that sprint.
So Reed methodically made his way back through the pack, finding a great passing line in a left-hand turn after a rhythm section, and he used it to zap Windham and later Ferry to land another second-place finish. Stewart was once again untouchable.


What the race really highlighted was the consistency of the front runners in the AMA Supercross Class. No matter the start, the strategy or the circumstances, the usual suspects took their usual spots on the podium each time. It was not like that at all in the AMA Supercross Lites class, which was hosting an Eastern Region title finale that defied all prediction.


The East stacked up with talent when Ryan Villopoto announced he would race the West Region. The favorite could have been Yamaha’s Broc Hepler, but he knocked himself out testing and had to sit the season out. The Monster Pro Circuit juggernaut lost Brett Metcalfe to injury, and replaced him with Arenacross Champion Darcy Lange, but pinned their hopes on Ben Townely, who fell right out of contention when his engine blew up at the opener in Atlanta. Makita Suzuki had an unproven rookie in Ryan Dungey, but inconsistency soon knocked him out of the ranks even though he had proven to be the fastest rider of all. Billy Laninovich failed to impress, Tommy Hahn never caught fire, the Alessi boys were a bust and soon the title looked like the one that no one wanted to win.
Through it all, the oft-injured Ryan Morais picked his Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy machine through the crashes, mistakes and failures of the others to hold the points lead coming into the Detroit finale. He had not won a race, but he had not made a single major mistake all season long. But Townley was riding well and closing fast after his opening-round DNF, and both entered Detroit with the title hanging in the balance.


Their heat race offered a preview, with Townley sneaking in front of Morais, and Morais giving chase and shadowing him all the way to the checkers. In the heat race Morais seemed to have enough speed to catch and pass Townley, which shined some light on his strategy for the season. Many theorized the young Californian could go fast when he needed to, but chose to be consistent all season long instead.


So when he jumped out front of Townley in the main, BT101 had his work cut out for him trying to track Morais down. Dungey grabbed the lead and was gone, headed to the race win. But the championship came down to Morais and Townley, and then suddenly, perhaps finally, Morais made a mistake. It was so simple, it was so decisive. He stalled his engine. And that was it. Townley rode past and headed to a championship, while Morais rode his heart out trying to catch up. He shed tears when he crossed the finish, knowing his valiant effort had come up short. Meanwhile, the Pro Circuit team had come up in the clutch once again.