Stewart dominates Shootout; RC wins again.

He may not have won a championship title this year, but James Stewart left nobody in any doubt that, when it comes to absolute speed, he has no equal in 125 Supercross.

Saturday night's end-of-season spectacular at the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas saw the young Florida native ride his factory Kawasaki KX125 to a resounding victory over 125 East champion Chad Reed and his own West region conqueror Travis Preston as the two main 125 Championships went head-to-head in the Dave Coombs Sr Shootout.

It was a very positive way to end the season for Stewart, in a year which prior to Las Vegas might have been considered a disappointment. The build-up to the Shootout was massive with all the pre-event hype centred on the match-up between runaway Eastern champ Reed and rookie Stewart, but it was Honda rider Chris Gosselaar who got the holeshot with Suzuki's Danny Smith second from Travis Elliott. Neither of the favourites got great starts, with Stewart running fifth on the first lap and Reed seventh but prompted some spectacular racing thereafter.

On the second lap, the habitually forceful Stewart pushed his factory Kawasaki past both Elliott and Smith, and then wasted no time in hunting down and passing leader Gosselaar on lap three. Reed, meanwhile, was running his usual conservative race, and was still in sixth place, trying to get around Ivan Tedesco.

Unfortunately for the Aussie, it took him until lap nine to finally make his way to second place and, by that time, Stewart was over eleven seconds up the track. Not only that, but he continued to turn the fastest laps of the night, leaving Reed unable to make any impression on the lead. Only in the closing laps, with Stewart the showman entertaining the crowd with flamboyant jumps, did Reed begin to make progress, but he still came home some 6.2secs adrift. Gosselaar finished third, followed by Tedesco and Smith.

"I didn't get off to the greatest start and I just kind of worked my way up the first few laps," the 16-year old Stewart told amaproracing, "I triple-tripled past Gosselaar [before turn one]. The track was kind of slick, so I couldn't charge the corners like I wanted to, but I kept it out front. Reed is one of the best 125 riders and I wish he could have gotten up there so we could have done battle, but I just happened to get out front and it was good. I'm so happy."

Almost overshadowed by the Shootout showdown, Ricky Carmichael continued to rack up the records with his eleventh win of the year in 250cc competition.

RC could have been excused if he'd chosen to take a night off after already wrapping up the championship in Salt Lake City, but instead he went out and thumped the field as he had most of the season.

Kyle Lewis surprised the Vegas crowd by taking the holeshot in the 250 final, but his lead was short-lived as Carmichael quickly moved to the front. Once ahead, the rest of the field had no option but to squabble over the minor places, headed by Lewis, Ezra Lusk and Ernesto Fonseca. The Honda rider put about a second per lap on the field and, by lap five, was well out of reach.

By this time Lusk and David Vuillemin ran second and third, there was no catching the #4 Honda. RC race was flawless, only backing off the pace in the late going to cross the line 3.8secs ahead of Lusk who, in turn, held off a last-lap charge by his French rival.

It marked the highest finish of the season for Lusk, but wasn't enough to allow him to catch Jeremy McGrath in the chase for third in the point standings. MC had a poor night by his standards, and any hopes of a final race win more-or-less ended at the start gate as the Bud Light Yamaha ended the opening lap mired in tenth place. While he steadily moved up during the race to finish fifth and secure third in the final standings, it was the first time in over a decade that MC had gone an entire season without an AMA Supercross win. Nate Ramsey took fourth on the night with the Honda four-stroke.

"My bike felt like it was on a rail tonight," Carmichael said afterwards, "I got off to a good start and just went from there. David [Vuillemin rode a hell of a season and made me work my butt off."

Carmichael's win in Las Vegas gave him a total of 24 AMA Supercross victories over the past two seasons, which broke the record of 23 wins in consecutive seasons held by McGrath. RC also finished the year with 26 career AMA Supercross wins, which places him fourth in the all-time standings, only one win behind the legendary Bob Hannah. Vuillemin, meanwhile, was awarded a $25,000 cheque by clothing company Vans for earning the most points in the Vans Triple Crown, which concluded in Las Vegas.

250 Main - results:

1. Ricky Carmichael Honda
2. Ezra Lusk Kawasaki
3. David Vuillemin Yamaha
4. Nathan Ramsey Honda
5. Jeremy McGrath Yamaha
6. Ernesto Fonseca Honda
7. Stephane Roncada Kawasaki
8. Nick Wey Yamaha
9. Kyle Lewis Honda
10. Keith Johnson Yamaha

125 Shootout - results:

1. James Stewart Kawasaki
2. Chad Reed Yamaha
3. Chris Gosselaar Honda
4. Ivan Tedesco Yamaha
5. Danny Smith Suzuki
6. Travis Preston Honda
7. Michael Byrne Honda
8. Brock Sellards KTM
9. Branden Jesseman Suzuki
10. Joshua Woods Suzuki

250 - point standings:

1. Ricky Carmichael Honda 356 points
2. David Vuillemin Yamaha 321
3. Jeremy McGrath Yamaha 250
4. Ezra Lusk Kawasaki 245
5. Stephan Roncada Kawasaki 232
6. Nathan Ramsey Honda 229
7. Ernesto Fonseca Honda 192
8. Nicholas Wey Yamaha 173
9. Damon Huffman Suzuki 151
10. Heath Voss Honda 148