Stewart caps Supercross championship with win at Sam Boyd

James Stewart led the AMA Supercross season from start to finish and closed out his championship year the same way Saturday night.

Stewart, 21, led all 20 laps of the Supercross feature race at Sam Boyd Stadium in front of 39,006. He beat runner-up Chad Reed by around 20 seconds.

It was the 13th victory in 18 races for Stewart this season. The Kawasaki rider from Haines City, Fla., clinched his first series title a week earlier.

“I had a perfect 20 laps out there, no mistakes,” he said.

“Chad was running with me in the beginning. I felt like I had some really good lines out there. I worked really hard. I won’t let my guard down.”

Yamaha’s Reed was second and Honda’s Kevin Windham finished third.

In the Supercross Lites East-West Shootout, Ryan Dungey of Belle Plaine, Minn., finished first in the 15-lap race. Las Vegas native Kyle Partridge was 18th.

* NHRA — At Madison, Ill., Melanie Troxel won her first Top Fuel race of the season at the O’Reilly NHRA Midwest Nationals, beating veteran Cory McClenathan in the finals to become the second woman to win at Gateway International Raceway.

Troxel had a run of 4.741 seconds at 274.33 mph to beat McClenathan.

Ron Capps extended his lead in the Funny Car points to 121 with his third victory of the year, this one over Del Worsham.

Dave Connolly (Pro Stock) and Matt Smith (Pro Stock Motorcycle) won their respective divisions.

* IRL — At Indianapolis, Milka Duno breezed through all four phases of her rookie test as practice began for the Indianapolis 500.

The 35-year-old from Venezuela made her IndyCar debut last week with a 14th-place finish at Kansas Speedway. Driving for Samax Motorsport, she quickly went through the series of four 10-lap tests in hopes of becoming just the fifth woman to race at Indy.

If Duno joins veteran drivers Sarah Fisher and Danica Patrick in qualifying, the May 27 race would be Indy’s first with three women in the lineup.

* BULLRING — Jace Meier of Las Vegas won his first feature race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring Saturday night by beating Chris Carmody in the 30-lap Late Models feature.

In the Super Late Models division, Justin Johnson won for the fourth time in the past five races.

Winners in other divisions were: Brian Matzke (Chargers), Chris Buescher (Legend Cars), Charlie Wahl (Thunder Roadsters), Kyle Spade (Bandoleros Young Guns) and Nicholas Thigpen (Bandoleros Bandits).