Page 42 - Issue_68

MALCOLM STEWART
450 SX / 9TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK
WORDS / SCHUBERT DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Malcolm Stewart started off his day in Atlanta with a 54.1 lap time earning twelfth place in the timed qualifying session. Stewart got a good jump out of the gate nding himself in sixth place after the rst corner but would drop back to eighth place getting passed by the ll in rider for Team Honda HRC Christian Craig and Autotrader / JGR / Yoshimura / Suzuki Factory Racing rider Weston Peick. Stewart kept his ow and con- tinued to keep in on two wheels but ended up getting passed by Marvin Musquin setting him back to ninth and on the rear tire was Dean Wilson looking to gain another posi- tion but Malcolm was able to hold off the Rockstar Energy / Husqvarna Factory Racing rider and ended up getting passed by a lightning fast Josh Hill who ended up crashing with just fty eight seconds left on the clock. Mookie would then gain that position back giving him ninth place in the rst main event. Come the second main event Stewart wouldn’t get the jump out of the gate as he did in the rst main event being the twentieth rider around the rst turn but his speed was still there making seven passes in just the rst lap. Malcolm continued on rst Bowers then Friese getting himself into eleventh place. Settling in but continuing to throw down fast lap times Stewart caught up to Peick, Webb and Tickle who got in collision before a corner which set Malcolm Stewart up with an eighth place nish for main event number two. For the third and nal main event Malcolm got off to a better start then he did in main number two, rounding the corner in fourteenth place making two passes before the rst lap was concluded putting him into a solid twelfth place. Early in the main event Blake Baggett made a mistake resulting
in a crash that Malcolm would bene t from putting himself into eleventh place. Mookie was quickly met by Soubeyras and Wilson who made clean passes and set him back to thirteenth place but Stewart would stay on the rear wheel of Soubeyras and was nally able to make a pass stick before the nish giving Malcolm a twelfth place nish in the main event and better yet a ninth place overall for the night.
42 GRITMOTO • MARCH 4, 2018