James Stewart will miss the final AMA Pro Motocross round of the season due to injury. Image: Simon Cudby.

Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing’s James Stewart will not be at the start gates of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross finale in Lake Elsinore, with the team electing to withdraw from the event to allow him to focus on recovery from a series of recent injuries.

Stewart contested last weekend’s Utah National in injury-management mode, and was running in podium contention in the first moto before coming up short on a large triple setup.

He subsequently retired from the running and further assessment this week has led to the team electing not to race the last event on the 12-round calendar.

“This was a tough call to make,” said team manager Mike Webb. “Especially since we’ve had some good momentum going after the win at Millville.

“But as a team, we all agreed that after the setbacks at the last two races, James’ time would be best spent recovering so that he can focus on Supercross testing in September.

“After that, we can turn all of our attention to winning the Supercross championship in 2014.”

Stewart showed sporadic speed throughout the season, claiming the overall win at Spring Creek and making the podium on three other occasions.

He currently sits fifth on the 450 class standings, a position he will likely maintain with Jake Weimer a further 45 points in arrears.