Emig Breaks Down Stewart's Return Tweet

All season long the question has been when will 2008 series champion James Stewart race. Finally that has been answered, and we all know it will be this weekend at Unadilla, but Stewart’s presence at the start gate raises an entirely different set of questions. Alli sat down with AMA Motocross Hall of Famer, Jeff Emig, who will be part of the NBC broadcast this weekend, to get his take on things, while the real answers won’t be revealed until race day.

James Stewart will be returning for the last four nationals, beginning at this weekend’s Unadilla, who’s the pressure on?
I certainly think that most people will assume that for Stewart it’s a pressure-free situation. He’s coming off an injury, you know, just go out and race. I actually think James is going to have a lot of pressure on him. He’s expected to win, no matter what, whenever he lines up. He gets paid guaranteed contracts that are worth millions of dollars and he hasn’t raced all year. I think that there’s a lot of pressure on him. 

James Stewart

He hasn’t raced outdoors in 23 months, do you think he’s back to 100 percent after his injury?
I do think that he’s going to come out and be as fast as he ever been. The question is can he sustain that at the pace of what Dungey and the other leaders are throwing out? Is his wrist healed up? Is he as strong? You’ve seen the guy ride. I mean, the way that he rides, he has to be 100 percent physically fit. I do believe that Alden Baker and James will have put in the work and they know that either they got it or they don’t. And if they didn’t have it they wouldn’t be back.

Do you think Dungey will be able to beat Stewart, or will Stewart pick up right where he left off two years ago?
Personally I think that a lot of things have been equalized. I think that there is a lot of pressure on Dungey. Clearly he has got the Championship in hand and he’s been the dominant rider. I don’t really think that at his level, he’s really been tested the last few weeks. So, does he have more speed in him? I think that he does. The question on everybody’s mind is, will Dungey do what it takes to beat James no matter what? Or will he say “I don’t care what James does. I’m worried about winning the Championship.’ That’s what we’re going to Unadilla to find out.

Ryan Dungey

What would you do in the situation?
If I was Ryan Dungey, there is no way I would back off. I would put the pedal to the metal. I would twist the grip off that thing and try and make a point, because in the future they are going to have to race together again. You look at the big picture and you look at next year. Dungey has never been stronger and James has never been potentially more distracted, or been more challenged.

Will the legendary racetrack play into things at all?
I do know that Unadilla is going to be very interesting because Stewart has not had a good run there. He has won there but he’s got a lot of bad memories from there, and so, is he going to come back and be as strong and fast as ever? Or will Dungey, Short and Grant and all these other guys, will they really have something. Because there is one thing throughout the history of the sport, there becomes a changing of the guard. And the one thing we’re all wondering and we’re just days away, is are we seeing a changing of the guard or is Stewart going to come back and be as dominant as we’ve seen him in 2008 when he won every moto? That’s why we’re going.

Andrew Short

What’s Stewart’s presence at the race going to do to the rest of the field besides Dungey?
Josh Grant has got blazing fast speed on any day and can go faster than anybody on the track no matter who it is. And so if I was Grant I think it would be a little motivation to beat James. Like, ‘I wanna be the top Yamaha guy. We got the best team, not L&M and Stewart. I’m the best Yamaha rider. I’m gonna go out and push him.’ The guy’s been off for a long time. Maybe how he processes the information and works the race in his head mentally may be down.

For Short, Grant and Hahn, all the top runners, I mean if you can’t beat Stewart now, then you might as well plan on racing for second. Because he’s never been more distracted with more things off the track. He’s got a wrist injury that’s held him off the bike for a long time. It’s in a part of the body that can make it hard to ride. It’s a joint. It’s your right hand. There’s a lot of things there. You know if I was racing I’d be like, ‘Okay today I got to give it the extra effort and I may be able to beat James Stewart.’

Josh Grant

So how do you think things will pan out?
Crazy. We haven’t talked about Stewart not racing for the win, we haven’t. We’re not going, ‘Okay he’s going to get a fifth, or he’s going to try and get a top three.’ He doesn’t race that way that’s what’s so cool about it. He races for the win every time he’s there and that’s why we’re talking about him, and he hasn’t raced for eight months. He races for the win, only for the win, win or crash. And he’s proved it before.

James Stewart

Thanks for the time Jeff, certainly great insight and experience on the situation. You’ll have your hands full in the broadcast booth this weekend! Looks like we have a showdown set for this Saturday at Unadilla. How do you all think it will pan out? Opinions definitely vary, but make sure to tune in for yourself and find out live. Catch the racing from New Berlin, NY as it happens starting at 12:40EST on allisports.com/motocross. The series homepage will have Stewart’s return in the first 450 moto streaming live as Bubba hits the starting line to take on Dungey, Short, Grant and the other 450cc stalwarts in his return to the outdoors. In the afternoon, make the switch from your computer to NBC Sports. Television coverage of 450 moto #2 begins LIVE at 3:12 EST where the answers to all these questions will be settled once and for all, where it should be, on the track.

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