While James has shown flashes of his old brilliance since returning, his sixteen-month suspension is proving to be a large hole to climb out of. Photo by: Hoppenworld

To say Yoshimura/Suzuki’s James Stewart‘s return to racing has not gone well might be the understatement of the decade. The former two-time 450SX Champion started out well with a win at the 2015 Red Bull Straight Rhythm, but since then, he has not finished a single event.

At the 2015 Monster Energy Cup, he recorded one lap before crashing out. In Bercy, he crashed out without recording a lap, and at the 2016 Anaheim 1 SX, things went from bad to worse. On the opening lap, while battling near the leaders, Red Bull/KTM’s Ryan Dungey made a mistake, torpedoed the #7 Suzuki and left James taking a nap on the berm. The race was red flagged and, so far, so was James’ season.

James passed the concussion test the next Friday before San Diego, but he pulled out of the event after qualifying 20th and not feeling he was ready for race action yet. James sat out Anaheim 2 and returned for the Oakland SX, but after qualifying sixth during Oakland’s timed qualifying and finishing in second in his heat race, James exited the main event after lap nine while running seventh. For anyone that was there and saw all the sketchy moments from the #7, it was a relief, but you could not help but feel for the man.

James Stewart (#7) battling with Eli Tomac (#3) and Ken Roczen (#94) for the heat race win in Oakland. Tomac got around the #7, but Kenny was forced to setting for 3rd behind James.
James Stewart (#7) battling with Eli Tomac (#3) and Ken Roczen (#94) for the heat race win in Oakland. Tomac got around the #7, but Kenny was forced to settle for 3rd behind James.

We heard from the Yoshimura/Suzuki team manager, Mike Webb, that James was suffering from blurred vision in Oakland, and today James elaborated on that and his unsure immediate plans for racing the upcoming Monster Energy Supercross rounds. We hope to see James healthy and on the line as soon as possible, but head injuries are always a scary guessing game. Get well soon, JS7.

Check out James’ statement from his @TheRealJS7 Instagram below.

Just wanted to update you guys on what happened Saturday night. I could tell from the 1st practice that things weren’t right from my A1 incident. But I figured if I kept riding things would get better. Well as the night went on things got worse and that’s what led me to pull off in the main. The worst part is, you never know how you’re gonna feel until you try. So that’s why I decided to try to race this weekend.

You can practice during the week all you want but racing is completely different. It’s my fault tho because instead of letting things heal 100%, I keep rushing to race for my fans and because I love to race. Clearly I’m not ready to race and After Saturday I felt like an idiot for trying to when I know I shouldn’t. I can tell you that I rather never race again if I have to pull off like last Saturday. To me a person that pulls off is a quitter and as much as I hate quitters, I felt like one afterwards until I thought about everything. I shouldn’t of have been there in the first place.

I was there bc I’m not a quitter and I keep trying to be superman for no reason. But it doesn’t matter anymore bc the people around me know who I am and my “real” fans know also. So at this point, I’m gonna listen to my body and come back when IM ready to race. It could be this weekend or a month from now but I’m gonna do what’s best for me and not what’s best for the rest.

I love you guys and I truly appreciate your support always. I came back to race and have fun this year and racing when I can’t function 100% isn’t racing or fun. So I’ll be back when I can do both of those things like the real js7 does. I want to personally thank all my sponsors for sticking behind me through all of this. I know you guys say I don’t need too thank u but it’s nice to have all of you in my corner always. And my fans, you know where my heart is and I can’t wait to be healthy so we all can enjoy the results together like always. Thx again peeps

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