Binghampton, NY - August 22, 2004
By Steve Cox

Chevy Trucks Kawasaki’s James Stewart clinched the 2004 AMA/Chevrolet 125cc National Motocross Championship with a full five motos remaining, as he took the title officially after the first moto at Binghamton, New York’s Broome-Tioga Raceway, round 10 of the 12-round AMA/Chevrolet U.S. Motocross Nationals.

He also tied Ricky Carmichael’s record for the most career AMA 125cc National wins at 26.

“I’d like to say congrats to Bubba on his second 125cc title, and I think he tied my 125cc wins, so congratulations to him,” RC said. “I don’t know what else I could do. Obviously records are made to be broke, I guess, but I’ve still got three 125cc titles, and he’s only got two. I’m getting old, man! I’ve got to claim all of these that I can! But congratulations to him.”

"I’d like to be able to break that record, and going to Glen Helen,” Bubba said. “I don’t really like that track, so when I go there, I’m going to try to win there, and there’s a lot of good riders that ride out there all the time. And if Mike [Alessi] races, I’m taking him out, for sure.”

Mike Brown grabbed his third consecutive holeshot in moto one, and Stewart immediately bumped his way by. Brown took exception to the contact and proceeded to knock Stewart down only a couple of turns later.

“We kind of got into it in practice, actually, and I didn’t mean to,” Stewart said. “And then, the first lap, I actually squared it up, because I didn’t feel like getting dirty, and I kind of slid into him, because the track was really slippery, and I barely clipped him, and I went over a jump and I told him I was sorry, and he was coming into the corner screaming. I thought he was having a kid or something, and he went in there wide open and he clipped me, and I’m not really mad about it – it’s racing, I guess. If you want to, I guess I deserve it, but my bike’s gonna take him out. I’m not really mad, but you saw that movie ‘Christina’ (sic), my bike’s a little more pissed than I am. Downtown Mike Brown will go down.”

Brown led the first three laps over first Chris Gosselaar, then Broc Hepler, then Stewart. Stewart made his way back by on lap four and took off, eventually winning by just over 16 seconds over Hepler, Brown, Davi Millsaps, Ivan Tedesco and Gosselaar.

“ The day started off pretty good, you know?” Millsaps said. “I had some good qualifiers, and in the first moto I ran out of tearoffs at like halfway and I backed off so I wouldn’t get roosted, and then I was like, ‘Whatever.’ So I got back on it and I caught back up to them and I ended up fourth that moto.”

Hepler was happy with the runner-up spot. “The starts didn’t go too well for me today,” Hepler said. “I was just spinning a little bit off the line and I was starting with James and Brown, and they don’t miss too many, so I got pinched off both motos. The first moto was good. I started just inside the top 10 and got into third. I worked my way up to Brown, and he gave me some of his lines, and I worked around them and opened up a gap a little bit.”

Gosselaar grabbed the moto-two holeshot over Troy Adams, Danny Smith, Millsaps, and the rest of the pack. Bubba was mired in the pack, but he was in the lead as the riders crossed the line to complete lap one and went on to win by nearly 44 seconds over Millsaps, Hepler, Adams and Matt Walker.

“The second moto was good,” Millsaps said. “I had the holeshot, and then I went outside and fell back to fifth or something like that, so I just rode my own race and got a good lead and just rode and had fun.”

Hepler secured second overall with his third-place finish. He’s now in control of second in points.

“I’ve been working on that since Southwick,” Hepler said. “After the second round at High Point I moved into second, and in the second moto at Southwick, I dropped out, so I lost it. I was trying to catch back up, and now that I’m in that position, I just want to stay there and hopefully keep putting more points on the rest of the field.”

AMA/Chevrolet Binghamton 125cc National Overall Results:
1. James Stewart, 1-1
2. Broc Hepler, 2-3
3. Davi Millsaps, 4-2
4. Mike Brown, 3-7
5. Troy Adams, 8-4
6. Ivan Tedesco, 5-8
7. Chris Gosselaar, 6-9
8. Greg Schnell, 7-10
9. Matt Walker, 13-5
10. Danny Smith, 14-6

AMA/Chevrolet 125cc National Points Standings (After 10 of 12 rounds):
1. James Stewart (475/9 wins)
2. Broc Hepler (338)
3. Mike Brown (320/1 win)
4. Nathan Ramsey (250)
5. Matt Walker (226)
6. Ivan Tedesco (211)
7. Josh Grant (200)
8. Davi Millsaps (193)
9. Danny Smith (181)
10. Ryan Mills (174)