Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s James Stewart continued to show steady progress at the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship in Washougal, Washington at the weekend, racing his Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 to a fifth-place qualifying position and a ninth-place result in the first moto after continuing to work himself back into race shape.

In just his second weekend back from time off due to injury, Stewart turned a respectable qualifying run of 2:10.479 on his RM-Z450 to earn fifth gate-pick for the national.

In the first moto, Stewart used the superior handling of his RM-Z450 to score a solid ninth-place finish. He was encouraged by his progress in regaining race pace, but in moto 2, the tough Washougal race track quickly proved the physical demands of professional motocross racing, forcing Stewart to pull off the track half way through the race.

“James is slowly getting himself back into race shape, but he’s been out a long time and we still have a lot of work in front of us,” said Mike Webb, Yoshimura Suzuki Team Manager. “We saw a good bit of progress today with his qualifying speed and with him being able to battle in the top-10 in the first moto. James now has two weekends off to improve his fitness and we’re looking forward to him trying to earn even better results at Unadilla.”