Let’s be honest. This year’s Las Vegas Supercross wasn’t so much of a race as it was a celebration. James Stewart’s ascension to the supercross throne was in many ways inevitable and in more ways totally necessary, and as such some moments that are completely predictable are needed. With Ricky Carmichael stepping down from his throne, James Stewart was the right person to pick up the mantle and try to push supercross to new levels of popularity—just like Ricky did, and before him, Jeremy McGrath.

Of course, those two pushed things forward because the won a lot. Everyone talks about how great, unpredictable racing is needed for motocross and supercross to get bigger, but in the 15 years of McGrath and Carmichael dominating the proceedings, all the sport did was grow to unthinkable proportions. So if James Stewart runs his flashy style to the top of the podium each week for the next few years, is that really bad?
Vegas offered a preview. Although Stewart had everyone clearly covered on speed this year (which you could see from watching the races on Speed, by the way), he even had to admit the obstacle course in the way of winning his first supercross title could make the going tough. No matter how many races he had won, until he had officially clinched the title, there was always that chance of a huge mistake that could cost him the whole thing. It wasn’t until the next-to-last round in Seattle when Stewart clinched, hoisting his second FIM World SXGP number one plate over his head alongside his first AMA Supercross Title. Finally, the lifetime worth of pressure was off.

So Vegas got to witness the ultimate James Stewart. Healthy, mature, confident, on a 450 and riding without any pressure or fear of throwing it away. The result was predictable and obvious—he dominated the race—but it’s what the sport needed. A clear cut leader to bring it to an even higher level. You may or may not think that 21-year-old James Stewart is ready to do that, but that’s the same age as McGrath and Carmichael were when they notched their first titles, and it all worked out pretty well for them.

Best news of all for Stewart is that at 21, he was able to really celebrate a season gone right in Vegas for the first time.
Behind him some other riders were fighting for the future—some immediate like the upcoming AMA/Toyota Motocross Championship—some further down the line like the Lites riders in the Dave Coombs Memorial East West Shootout. Stewart has vanquished Chad Reed, and last year’s big Lites graduates weren’t healthy enough to even try to run with him (Davi Millsaps, Andrew Short and Grant Langston all missed nearly half of a season), so perhaps his biggest rivals aren’t even there yet. Ryan Villopoto is turning himself into one bad little dude, but he lost his chance to show it due to Mitch Payton’s Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki curse. Mitch runs the most successful team in Supercross Lites history, but his boys always have trouble in Vegas. He proved it again this year when his East Lites Champion Ben Townley derailed a chain, and then Villopoto crashed out seconds later in the massive Thunder Alley sweeper.

So then it was time to look to the next, next next big things—beyond Stewart, beyond Millsaps, Short and Langston, beyond Townley and Villopoto. Two supercross rookies began battling at the front, Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey and Yamaha’s Josh Hill. Hill was no doubt motivated to beat Dungey after watching his fellow freshman notch three wins in the east while he went winless against Villo. So he dug deep, caught Dungey, and then tried an ill-advised block pass when it just could not be completed. Hill knocked Dungey off the track and went down himself. Dungey picked it up and ran with it all the way to his fourth win of the season—and easily the biggest.

Stewart was raised and praised as a champion since day one. Ryan Dungey was a B rider who wasn’t even on the supercross radar one year ago. So don’t worry about knowing who is going to win all the time—even Stewart knows that in Vegas and in supercross, there are no sure bets.