After a disappointing Supercross season, James Stewart has split with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and signed on with Yoshimura Suzuki. The switch in teams comes less than seven months after Stewart signed a multiyear deal with JGR that would’ve seen him transition into NASCAR in a couple of years.

The 2012 AMA Supercross season came to an exciting close this past Saturday at the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. Although Ryan Villopoto snatched up the championship title back in Houston, the level of intensity out on the track never dropped for a second.

As the AMA Supercross season comes to a close, the remaining group of top riders are scrambling for the FIM Championship’s second place slot. Ryan Villopoto secured the championship title back in Round 13, leaving second and third to riders such as Ryan Dungey, David Millsaps, Justin Brayton, and Jake Weimer.

Even though Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto secured this season’s AMA Supercross Championship title in Round 13, he’s certainly not slowing down. He dominated Round 14 at New Orleans’ Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Saturday night to claim his ninth win of the season.

Last Saturday, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto clinched the AMA Supercross title with four rounds still left in the competition. When Villopoto left Toronto the previous weekend, his devastating points lead over Red Bull KTM’s Ryan Dungey set him up to finish things off early and pick up his second Supercross title in Houston, Texas. RV2’s flawless performance at the Reliant Stadium earned him those 21 points he needed to claim the 2012 title.

Along with Villopoto’s 2012 title comes two other noteworthy honors: he is now the first person to win back-to-back titles since Ricky Carmichael (2005-2006); and secondly, he captured the championship title earlier than any other rider has managed to since the first AMA Supercross Championship 38 years ago.