Cool temperatures and mild weather greeted racers at the third round of the Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross Series—the fifth round of the Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP Series—at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, this Saturday night. This race also marked the first round of the season that Team Makita Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael wouldn’t be competing, so needless to say, with RC out, Team Monster Energy Kawasaki's James Stewart was the favorite for the win.

All day Stewart was easily the quickest rider on the track, as he posted the fastest times in both practices, and took that momentum into the evening program where he scored the win in his heat race, and then the main event. For Stewart, the win was his third consecutive of the season, and boosted his series lead to 13 points ahead of Team San Manuel Band of Mission Indians/L&M Racing/Yamaha's Chad Reed.

With the first two Amp’d Mobile World rounds in Canada under our belts, we headed to Angel Stadium in Anaheim, CA, for round number one of the highly anticipated 2007 Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series. The riders and Anaheim faithful were treated to cool but clear skies in the SoCal Mecca, and the racing action went off without a hitch at 7:36 PM sharp. Heading into the event, the big news stories were the injury to Yamaha’s Chad Reed, which proved not to be severe enough to put too large of a dent in his championship hopes, as well as the kickoff of the Western Region Lites Championship series. When all was said and done and the stadium lights dimmed at the end of the night, it was Kawasaki’s James Stewart in the Supercross class and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto in the Lites class who took home opening round glory. If you missed the live television coverage on SPEED, read on for all of the racing highlights…

The thermometer in the dashboard of our rental car registered a chilly 42 degrees this morning as we headed to Chase Field for the second round of the Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross series in Phoenix, Arizona. The cold weather, however, didn't seem to bother the Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team, who by night's end would sweep the Lites podium. In the Supercross main event, the crowd of 44,953 was treated to an epic battle between Team Makita Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael and Monster Kawasaki's James Stewart after a restart in the red-flagged main event. All in all, it was an exciting night of racing in Phoenix; here's how it went down...

With a larger crowd on-hand than the previous night, the MGM Grand Garden arena once again came alive on Saturday to host the final night of racing in the 2006 U.S. Open. With RC in position to take a come-from-behind overall win, James Stewart in contention to cash-in on $250,000 if he could again sweep the Toyota Trucks Trifecta, and several guys looking fast in the Lites class, the night definitely had plenty of excitement in-store for the Las Vegas crowd.

With rain falling outside, the 2006 U.S. Open started with a thunderous clap of pyrotechnics and a rider introduction ceremony so flashy it could only happen in Vegas. By the end of the night, the crowd would be treated to an incredible second place finish from Ricky Carmichael, as James Stewart became poised to win the $250,000 Toyota Trucks Trifecta award after taking the main event win along with posting the fastest qualifying lap.

2006 MOTOCROSS OF NATIONS
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Matterley Basin—Winchester, England

The drive to the Matterley Basin circuit on Sunday morning looked nearly identical to that experienced on Nations Sunday last year in France. A torrential downpour is what we awoke to, and the heavy rain didn’t stop until our arrival at the track at 7:30. With a clearing expected later in the morning, a beautiful afternoon of racing was on our minds, but what would be left of the track after hours of heavy rainfall? To our amazement, the Matterley soil, although slick and muddy during all of the practice sessions, shaped up nicely, and that beautiful afternoon of racing is exactly what we got.