Motocross: James Stewart out for 2015 after FIM denies appeal - MotorSportsTalk

James Stewart will not be able to line up when the 2015 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship gets underway in just over two weeks. The International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) has denied his appeal, meaning that his suspension for a failed drug test – which runs through August 11th, 2015 – will be upheld.

The ruling comes more than a year to the day after the Yoshimura Suzuki rider originally tested positive for a banned substance – later identified as Adderall – after the Seattle Supercross race in 2014.

Although he had a prescription for the drug, Stewart didn’t fill out the required form for a Therapeutic Use Exemption, which resulted in a violation of the drug policy. After a period where he was provisionally suspended but still allowed to race, the FIM hit him with a 16-month suspension in December, retroactive to the time of the drug test. After a lengthy delay from the FIM, Stewart was recently given the chance to appeal the suspension in hopes that he could be cleared to race the Nationals this summer. The FIM’s ruling this week has since eliminated those hopes.

With a return for the season-opening race at Hangtown out of the picture, the former champion – who has been testing with the Yoshimura Suzuki team while awaiting a decision – will now turn his attention to the 2016 season.

“It’s extremely disappointing that my appeal was denied,” Stewart said in a statement from the team. “But I’m glad this is over and now I can turn my full attention back to preparing for the few events I’ll be competing in this year and coming back strong for 2016.”

Proving that he was still an elite talent last season, Stewart swept both motos at the June race at High Point, just days before news of his provisional suspension broke. After the announcement though, he struggled on the track, failing to finish better than eighth overall at any remaining races. He later opted to sit out the final four rounds of the series and ended up ninth overall in 450 Class points.

Stewart is one of the most popular riders in the series and has won three Lucas Oil Pro Motocross titles, including a 450 Class championship in 2008.

This year’s Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship will kick off Saturday, May 16th at Hangtown.

INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33. Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports