AMA-SX: 2009 Las Vegas Results

The two rivals were head and shoulders above the rest of the competition, and they traded the lead in the standings back and forth all season to set the stage for the May 2 finale at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev.

Stewart arrived in Vegas with a six-point lead in the standings while Reed was still fuming over Kyle Chisholms blocking foul from the previous round that may have cost Reed the race.

Who can deny that it wasnt intentional, says Reed. His line, the fact that he was a lap down, and the obvious being he is James teammate. It was a shame. I dont believe Kyle (Chisholm) is a bad person. I dont know him personally, but Ive heard hes a good kid. Its weird that a good person should have to go through that. There is a paper trail a mile long of what (Larry Brooks) has done in the past. I find it to be quite amusing but I truly believe everyone in this room knows what really happened.

The 20-lap main event began with Rockstar Makita Suzukis Mike Alessi taking the holeshot with Stewart and Monster Energy Kawasaki s Ryan Villopoto on his tail. Reed, meanwhile, stumbled out of the gate and dropped back to seventh.

By the end of the first lap, Stewart had taken over the lead with Villopoto in second. Alessi was next and Reed had worked back into the mix. Villopoto overtook Stewart a lap later for the lead, while Reed moved up to third.

Reed found an opportunity on lap 15 and made an aggressive move to pass Stewart. The two riders made contact but Stewart stayed sturdy. With Villopoto well out in front and the rest of the field far behind him, Stewart let Reed by and kept a steady pace right up to the end.

Villopoto crossed the finish first with Reed eight seconds behind. Stewart crossed 20 seconds later for third place, but more importantly, a 377-373 lead to win the AMA Supercross and FIM Supercross World Championship.

I might not have ridden the best tonight, but I did what I had to do, and Im so happy, says Stewart. Its so emotional. There is so much hard work that went into this, and honestly Im exhausted right now because its been the toughest year for me.

Reed finished second in the standings as he had for most races this season. He was the most consistent rider all season, missing the podium only once. Reed had 12 runner-up finishes this season, with all except the finale coming in Stewart victories.

Its hard to swallow, to have to give up that one. I feel like I worked really hard for this championship and to be so close really hurts. We had a great year, we were consistently on the podium every weekend except at Seattle, where I made a mistake and crashed and was only able to come back to seventh. But I had fun this year, and thats the main thing. Its disappointing and its hard, but at the end of the day I felt that we achieved big things this year so its good.

Stewart finished the year with 11 wins, the most in a season by a rider since Jeremy McGrath. Stewart needed each of those wins to make up for Reeds consistency and a disappointing 19th-place finish in the season opener.

Every race this year, Ive had to win, and thats hard mentally. I dont think anybodys ever been in a situation where they had to win every race. Chad has been on the podium 16 out of 17 races this year, so I had to win after Anaheim I, and then after Daytona. It pays off to have a great team, a great trainer, and a great supporting cast. Im so happy.