James Stewart was forced to retire from the High Point event, finishing just one moto on the day. Image: Simon Cudby.

An uncertain future awaits James Stewart and his Yoshimura Suzuki team as the former champion was unable to complete both motos at round four of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship at High Point over the weekend.

After Stewart’s highly publicised crash at Thunder Valley forced his departure from the round due to a hand injury, he returned to High Point in a bid to prevent his title chances from further slipping away.

Coming from behind in 450 moto one, Stewart was able to salvage a fifth place, but was visibly hindered by his injury. Knowing full well that Stewart was suffering from a lack of grip on his right throttle hand, he and the team decided it was best to pack it up and sit out the second moto.

“Halfway through the first moto I could barely hold on,” said Stewart. “I was struggling a bit because I got a bad start, but I was working my way up. I was trying to do my best to hold on and I almost fell over a few times.

“At this point, I came out here and I tried. I knew I wasn’t 100 percent and I felt like I at least needed to try and do that, but I couldn’t.

“I was still going to try and give it another shot for the second moto, but the team knew about my riding. We’ll see what we can do maybe next weekend or in a few weeks.”

Stewart has now slipped down to fifth overall in the 450 Class standings, 70 points behind current leader Ryan Dungey. Stay tuned to MotoOnline.com.au for updates on Stewart’s condition and return date.