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MALCOLM STEWART
450 SX / A2
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / KILPATRICK DESIGN / WILSON
>> Finally, we have one of the Stewart brothers contesting the Monster Energy Supercross championship in 2017. Malcolm Stewart made his return to the series for the Ride 365 Seven backed Suzuki team and showed that he hasn’t lost his speed with the tenth fastest time. The Florida native got out to a flyer in his heat race as he muscled his way out of the first corner within sight of the lead. He shadowed Marvin Musquin for a couple of laps as the two of them worked to find a way around Vince Friese. On the third lap, Stewart got impatient and put a hard block pass on both riders at once and used it as an opportunity to build a gap in second place. He finished second to the points leader and showed some promising speed and race craft while doing so. Mookie was bringing a
lot of confidence into the main event after making a statement in his heat race with aggressiveness and style. He blasted out of the gate to a top ten start and came across the line in eighth position the first time around. Stewart was trailing Roczen throughout the opening laps, picking up some lines and scoping out the track. He held onto the position firmly through- out the first half of the main event, fending off the factory supported riders of Chad Reed and Eli Tomac. Stewart finally forfeited a couple of positions on the seventh lap, placing him in a solid tenth place. He paced himself for the middle portion of the moto in an attempt to score a top ten in his return to action, but experienced some misfortune on the fourteenth lap. Although he ended up with an eighteenth place finish when the night was said and done, there were a lot of positives to be taken from Mookie’s performance on the day. He looked comfortable on the Suzuki from the start of practice, he showcased the speed to run in the top ten, and he’s only going to get more fit and comfortable as the series progresses. Keep an eye out for the Ride 365 Seven backed Suzuki to be mixing it up in the top ten when the gate drops in the Grand Canyon State.
110 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 22, 2017