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There is a chance that Ben Townley may be facing off against James Stewart at the Motocross Grand Prix of South Africa to be held at a brand new facility at Sun City. The event takes place from the 24th - 26th September 2004.
There seems to be consensus among the motocross community that James ‘Bubba’ Stewart is the man. The 18 year old is again dominating the 125cc class this year in the USA. He won the 2004 AMA Supercross series and has won all but one race so far in the 2004 Chevrolet AMA Motocross series. He burst onto the professional motocross scene in 2002 and won the 125cc title in his first year as a professional. He is the first black motocross racer to have made such an impact and is referred to as the ‘Tiger Woods’ of motocross.
‘Bubba’ has been racing since he was 4 years old and has been riding for Kawasaki since he was 7. Being brought up in rural Florida, USA, his family saw his potential at an early age and lived out of a camper van for a few years to enable the young James to compete in all the amateur races. He won 11 AMA National titles before he was 17. He also won the Mini Motocross World Champs on 2 separate occasions.
An invitation, personally signed by Nelson Mandela, has been delivered to James to come and compete in the Sun City South African Motocross Grand Prix. “We believe he will be an inspiration to the black community, who don’t have much exposure to Motocross”. said Dan Ntsala, manager of corporate affairs at Sun City.
Denver Hendricks, the head of the Department of Sport and Recreation, added that if James were to come they would like him to meet some of the young talent South Africa has to offer. “Together with MSA and Sun City we would like to introduce some of the development riders to James. We would love the kids to see what they could achieve with dedication and determination.” said Hendricks.
No official word has yet been received from either Kawasaki USA or James Stewart himself. We know that Babba’s testing schedule has prevented him from being available for Team USA to compete in the Motocross des Nations the week after the Sun City MXGP. “We are expecting a response from James’ Management team soon.” added Bret Hoppe, Events and Incentives Manager for Sun City.
James would for the first time be racing against some of the best motocross racers in the FIM World Championships. Depending on what class he rides he could come up against Ben Townley, the likeable Kiwi racer, and Tyla Rattray, from South Africa, who are currenly in 1st and 2nd position in the MX2 (125cc) class. If he decides to ride in the MX1 (250) class he would be up against the top racers in that class, kiwi Josh Coppins , Stefan Everts from Belgium and Mickael Pichon of France.
The participation of James Stewart at Sun City would certainly boost the status of the event to being a fantastic Grand Finale to a great FIM GP season. Local spectators would for the first time be able to see a true champion taking on the rest of the world, not for glory or fame, but for the good of Motocross in general.
