James Stewart raced to his first top three of the year at Dodger Stadium. Image: Simon Cudby.

Toyota/Yamaha/JGRMX’s James Stewart has vowed to get better after a lacklustre start to the 2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross series in the U.S.

Stewart had spent time after the second round in Phoenix last week honing his starts and the work paid off with improved starts in Los Angeles last weekend.

After an early battle with Chad Reed, a close race was brought to a halt on the 11th lap when a small mistake saw Stewart go down.

Stewart was able to remount and although his chances of victory had gone he still had to fight hard to defend his position from a charging Ryan Villopoto.

“We had a rough practice session, but my starts were great so I have to give it up to the team,” he said. “This result is a confidence builder for sure.

“I was ‘there’ and we’ll go for [the win] next week for sure. I always try my best and always go hard out there. We’ll get better. I made one mistake and just couldn’t bring it back.”

In the championship standings Stewart is fifth, 19 points behind series leader Ryan Dungey.