2003 Dallas 125cc Main (James Stewart Goes for Supercross Title #1)

This is the 125cc Main Event from Texas Stadium in Irving, TX.

In 2003, Team Kawasaki's James "Bubba" Stewart, Jr. was on a roll in the 125cc West AMA Supercross season. After a 2nd place to AMSOIL Honda's Travis Preston #1, the defending 125cc West champ, James caught fire with a win at the next round in Phoenix. Travis Preston kept things consistent with a 2nd place finish behind Stewart, but Anaheim 2 was the turning point of the 125cc West Supercross season.

At Anaheim 2, James Stewart got the early lead with Travis Preston buried back near the end of the top 10. Stewart led all 15 laps en route to his 2nd consecutive win of 2003, but more importantly, his first career win at Anaheim after 4 failed attempts. From that point on, James put himself in a class of his own and tried to match the lap times of the 250cc class. Stewart would win out the rest of the 2003 125cc West AMA Supercross season, while Travis Preston continued to struggle with good starts and have two encounters with the Pro Circuit Kawasaki team (one with Eric Sorby #917, and Matt Walker #30). Coming into Dallas, all Stewart needed was a 3rd place or better to wrap up the title.

In the main, James Stewart and KTM's Billy Laninovich #132 battled for the holeshot. It ended in tragedy for Laninovich, who crashed in the 2nd turn. Travis Preston started around 5th and moved up to 2nd rather quickly. Unfortunately for Travis, a repeat of 2002 was unlikely to happen, and did not. Stewart would win the race -- his 6th consecutive of the season -- and more importantly... the 125cc West Supercross title. It was sweet redemption for Stewart after he gave away the 2002 125cc West title to Travis Preston in this exact venue due to 4 crashes. Stewart would dominate the West finale at Salt Lake City, but suffer a horrifying crash at the 125cc East/West Shootout in Las Vegas, which would sideline him for the first 4 rounds of the 125cc Motocross Championship.

Enjoy.