Motorcycle Racing

It is easy to see why freestyle motocross is among the marquee events of the X Games, with riders soaring from ramp to ramp at distances of up to 100 feet, flipping their 250-pound bikes while performing mid-air handstands and other seemingly impossible tricks.

As the supercross season opens tonight at Angel Stadium, the question is whether reigning champ James Stewart will be slowed either by a muddy track or his layoff from an injury last year. The Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series holds three of its first six races in Anaheim each season, and Stewart made history in 2007 by becoming the first rider to sweep all three.

Britain's Prince William and Prince Harry set off Saturday on a grueling 1,000-mile motorcycle rally in South Africa to raise money for charity. The pair joked that they had a wager on who would tumble from his bike the most during the eight-day off-road adventure.

As the U.S. motorcycle supercross season opens tonight in Anaheim, most observers agree that the series title is James Stewart's to lose. The 21-year-old Kawasaki rider dueled for last year's title with Ricky Carmichael before Carmichael pulled ahead and won his fifth Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross championship.

Can anyone catch James Stewart? The Kawasaki rider is the clear favorite in tonight's Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross race as the series returns to Anaheim for the second of three races it holds each year at Angel Stadium. Stewart, 21, won the 20-lap main event in the series opener there Jan. 6, then won again last week at Chase Field in Phoenix. Moreover, Stewart's toughest competitor, five-time AMA Supercross champion Ricky Carmichael, won't be in the field tonight.

James Stewart dismisses the suggestion that he'll dominate this year's supercross season now that Ricky Carmichael is semi-retired, but it's one Stewart keeps reinforcing on the track. Stewart cruised to his third consecutive Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross win Saturday night before 43,144 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, making him unbeaten so far this year. Chad Reed was second on a Yamaha in the 20-lap main event and Honda rider Nicholas Wey of Murrieta was third. Stewart, of Haines City, Fla.

The U.S. supercross series runs three races at Angel Stadium early each season, and no rider -- not even five-time series champion Ricky Carmichael -- has ever swept them. James Stewart wants to change that tonight. The 21-year-old Kawasaki rider won the first two Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross events at the stadium last month, as well as a race in Phoenix, before losing to Carmichael last weekend in San Francisco.

James Stewart rode into supercross history Saturday night by becoming the first rider to win all three of the season's races at Angel Stadium. Stewart, 21, held off Chad Reed by less than two seconds to capture the Amp'd Mobile AMA Supercross race after winning the two previous races in Anaheim last month. Timmy Ferry was third and Nicholas Wey of Murrieta fourth in the 20-lap main event.