Your reminder not to count Jett out for the 2025 MX title...

twotwosix
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Edited Date/Time 2/4/2025 8:58am

"James Stewart told everyone he felt great. He was excited about defending his Supercross title. He didn’t believe a word that came out of his own mouth. The media on the other end of the conference call heard positivity but couldn’t see the ice-wrapped knee and propped-up leg in front of him. They also didn’t know he had just returned from an MRI. He knew his situation was tenuous but he made the decision to race Supercross, even if he had to do it on one leg. And he wasn’t going to tell anyone about it or make excuses.

James Stewart #7

He made it to round one, January 5, 2008, and everything looked normal. Stewart set the fastest qualifying time and won his heat race. The mucky race track featured six left hand turns, unfavorable conditions and layout for a guy that wanted to keep his left foot planted on the foot peg. Re-watching the 2008 Anaheim Supercross with sharper vision and knowing what Stewart dealt with, should we use hindsight bias to justify why he didn’t make an effort to run down winner Chad Reed? A week later in Phoenix, Stewart qualified fastest again (by an entire second) and led every single lap of the main event for his 25th career win. “Hard work pays off,” was the external message. Internally, he suffered. His knee painfully popped in and out of its natural place with ease and he couldn’t hide his limp. He struggled to walk after the Phoenix round. The series returned to Anaheim for round three, a 1986-themed retro race that also featured a track design from that iconic year. The quirky, peaked wall jumps were murder on his knee. Still, he finished both qualifying sessions second to Reed (but 1.4 seconds behind in session two). He knew then that he was done. One hour before opening ceremonies, Stewart dropped the shocking news: “I’ve been trying to suck it up every weekend but every weekend it’s getting worse and worse… my knee feels really unstable and it’s to the point there’s nothing I can do about it except for get it fixed.”

He had already done the calendar calculation; if he got the knee fixed now, in late January, then maybe he could still be ready to compete in Pro Motocross at Glen Helen on May 25. Four days later, an orthopedic surgeon in California sliced out a tendon from Stewart’s own hamstring and used it to replace the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The 2008 Pro Motocross Championship started in just four months and three days... 

24-0: James Stewart crosses the finish line first for the 24th consecutive time in 2008. Photo: Frank Hoppen
24-0: James Stewart crosses the finish line first for the 24th consecutive time in 2008 to complete his perfect, undefeated season.

https://wewentfast.com/james-stewart-the-fastest-man-on-the-planet-finds-perfection/

____________________________________________________________________

"Ricky Carmichael’s 2004 plans did not include racing the AMA Pro Motocross Championship. His torn left ACL needed a rebuild but he wanted to race Supercross more than he wanted to repair his knee. He thought he could punt surgery until May 2004. Only Carmichael’s inner circle knew about his ACL and now he couldn’t avoid confessing to the team about the injury. That was almost more excruciating than the pain. With tears in his eyes and emotion in his voice, he told them he was done; there would be no Supercross season for him.

Carmichael went under the knife on December 9, 2003 and didn’t ride a motorcycle again until the first day of April. In that nearly four month span he recovered, recharged, shockingly, signed with American Suzuki and worried about his knee. 

Ricky Carmichael, Millville, 2004

The opening round of the ’04 MX schedule went off with a swirl of curiosity and questions; did Carmichael still have it? The fans wanted, expected, to see battles between Carmichael and Chad Reed the new Supercross Champion. Or between Carmichael and Kevin Windham, the only other rider to win an overall going back to 2001. Those battles did happen, but not often and they were blink-and-you’ll-miss-them brief. Carmichael won all 12 overalls and all 24 motos. He set the single fastest lap time in every single moto. He led every single lap in 17 of the 24 motos and 97% of the total laps run. Of the dozen he didn’t lead, all were within the first three circulations of each moto. If he was trying to let people know whether or not he could win again, he said it loudly, without saying a thing..."

Ricky Carmichael, Glen Helen, 200424-0. Again. Ricky Carmichael crosses the line, completing another perfect season.

https://wewentfast.com/test-24-0-how-ricky-carmichael-made-lightning-strike-twice/

 

image 1118.png?VersionId=HwvSu.UFB vBZ1O3KG1vyGOGfY

 

It's been done before by James and Ricky both. Jett has just just 3 1/2 weeks until the Pro Motocross season opener. Docs say he needs at least 4 months recovery, will he make it? Only time will tell, but I wouldn't count him out just yet.

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mattyhamz2
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2/4/2025 9:12am

Guess that really depends on how that 4 months goes and if that’s 4 months off of the bike to heal or if the 4 months includes him back on the bike. I would bet if all goes as planned with no complications he’s off the bike 4 months which puts him coming back by round 4 or 5? I just don’t see him or Honda trying to rush back. 

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twotwosix
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2/4/2025 2:03pm
mattyhamz2 wrote:
Guess that really depends on how that 4 months goes and if that’s 4 months off of the bike to heal or if the 4 months...

Guess that really depends on how that 4 months goes and if that’s 4 months off of the bike to heal or if the 4 months includes him back on the bike. I would bet if all goes as planned with no complications he’s off the bike 4 months which puts him coming back by round 4 or 5? I just don’t see him or Honda trying to rush back. 

It's a short timeframe, really short...

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