Stewart wins Anaheim.

Kawasaki's James Stewart won the opening round of the AMA Amp'd Mobile Supercross Series in front of a sell-out crowd at Anaheim's Angel Stadium, beating rivals Chad Reed and Ricky Carmichael into the lower podium places.

Although Honda's Kyle Lewis got the holeshot, it was Ernesto Fonseca, also Honda-mounted, who jumped into the early lead, which he held until a fourth lap crash removed him from contention and left Stewart, Chad Reed and Carmichael to battle it out ahead of the chasing pack.

All three took turns to lead, with Reed gaining the early advantage for Yamaha, before Carmichael took the lead for Suzuki on lap seven. However, when the multiple champion crashed shortly afterwards, Reed regained top spot - only to see Stewart move ahead on lap nine. Once in the lead, 'Bubba' assumed control, with Reed finishing second ahead of the recovering Carmichael.

"I felt like I rode a great race," said Stewart, who adds the Anaheim win to two previous victories in the Amp'd Mobile World Supercross GP. "I knew I was strong when lap 10 came around. I've been putting in a lot of hard work at home with my trainer. I want to stay consistent and I want to take the season slow."

"Unfortunately, it didn't work out the way we wanted tonight, but we had a good race," a disappointed Carmichael admitted, "Chad made a mistake and I got the drive to get by him, but then I made a mistake and went down. It was survival after that, and I don't know how I got back on the podium! The guys were riding real well tonight - and I need to get better!"

Andrew Short took the Western Region AMA Supercross Lites Series opener for Honda, but had to battle past holeshot winner Darcy Lange - the AMA national Arenacross champion - and Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto, who was making his professional supercross d?(C)but. Eventually getting to the front by lap nine, Short pulled away to pick up the third win of his career. Villopoto was second, with Honda's Billy Laninovich completing the podium.

Results:

250 main event:

1. James Stewart Kawasaki
2. Chad Reed Yamaha
3. Ricky Carmichael Suzuki
4. Mike LaRocco Honda
5. Ivan Tedesco Suzuki
6. Ernesto Fonseca Honda
7. Nick Wey Honda
8. Travis Preston Honda
9. Michael Byrne Kawasaki
10. David Vuillemin Honda

West Lites main evcent:

1. Andrew Short Honda
2. Ryan Villopoto Kawasaki
3. Billy Laninovich Honda
4. Grant Langston Kawasaki
5. Darcy Lange Kawasaki
6. Paul Carpenter Honda
7. Jake Weimer Honda
8. Brett Metcalfe Yamaha
9. Mike Alessi KTM
10. Eric Sorby Honda