James Stewart was injured late during practice at Anaheim 1. Image: Simon Cudby.

Yoshimura Suzuki’s James Stewart will undergo scans this week to find out the extent of his knee injury suffered in the final stages of practice at Anaheim 1’s Monster Energy Supercross opener on Saturday.

The two-time champion overcame an injury in practice to salvage eighth in his debut supercross ride for Suzuki, but faces an uphill challenge if doctors allow him to continue on in Phoenix this weekend.

After putting down some blisteringly-hot laps on his RM-Z450 and posting the fastest qualifying time at the end of practice, Stewart tweaked his right knee and wound up riding conservatively in the night’s main event.

After icing and elevating his leg and opting-out of the opening ceremonies to rest, Stewart put in a smart ride in his eight-lap heat race, getting a great start and leading the first half of the race before finishing third.

In the 20-lap final, Stewart again played it safe and simply kept it on two wheels. As a result, he finished inside the top 10 and was happy to pick-up as many points as possible in just the first race in a long 17-round series.

“Things started out pretty good. We were fastest in practice and top qualifier,” he reflected. “We had some really good speed and the Yoshimura Suzuki RM-Z450 was working great all day. Then I had a little mishap in practice, I didn’t fall over, I just caught my knee wrong.

“That turned my night around right there, because up until then I felt like we had a win in us. We finished eighth, but to be honest, I feel like I won the race. Now I’ll go and get it checked out and if everything is good with the knee, we’ll continue on to Phoenix next week and hopefully get on a roll.

“My main competition [Ryan Villopoto] finished eight spots behind me so we’re right there in points. Now we just need to go back and figure it out for next week.”

The series will continue at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, this Saturday, 12 January.