Page 114 - Issue-35

MALCOLM STEWART
450 SX / OKLAND
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / ARMSTRONG DESIGN / WILSON
>> When you win a 250 supercross title you are pretty much guaran- teed a factory ride in the 450 class. That was not the case for East coast champ Malcolm Stewart, even though his riding style suits the 450 machines. Malcolm spent most of his off season making phone calls and begging for support. Eventually it came time for the 2017 season to begin and Malcolm was no where to be found. With all odds against him the younger Stewart brother made it clear that he wanted to be racing and finally struck a deal with the Ride365 squad. Mookie is the only rider un- der their Ride365 tent with the help of his family and Seven MX. Mookie missed the first two rounds but lined up at Anaheim 2. Even though any- one out there with money can build the exact same bike Malcolm is riding he has shown his speed to beat the factory riders. Since returning to racing he has directly made it out heat races to the main events, always finishing runner up. The Suzuki rider has shown that he has the speed
to be a top 5 rider but is lacking the physical conditioning to finish a 20 minute +1 lap main event. Malcolm has struggled each weekend to be inside of the top ten but this weekend in Oakland it seemed like he had
it under control. After a mediocre start Mookie was forced to play catch up, and he was playing the game well. M.Stew was able to get around Wilson and Baggett around the mid way point and began to chase down Millsaps for 6th. With about 7 minutes remaining the #47 made a small mistake that allowed Wilson, Baggett and Reed to get by. Frustrated
by his mistake Malcolm made a questionable move to get back around Wilson after the long set of whoops. While trying to jump to the inside of Dean, Mookie clipped the #15’s rear tire and went over the bars. The Su- zuki rider fell back to 17th where he would finish. The result doesn’t look good but improvements where made this weekend in Oakland.
114 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 5, 2017