MALCOLM STEWART INTERVIEW: BACK TO RACING OUTDOOR MOTOCROSS

Currently ranked ninth in the 2024 450 motocross championship lies Malcolm Stewart. To date, the rockstar energy Husqvarna rider has finished eighth overall twice as his highest overall finishes. The 31-year-old hopes to improve as the series progresses, as it’s been ten years since he last raced outdoors. Along with that fact, we need to keep in mind that Stewart was sidelined for much of the 2023 season. It’s always a pleasure to catch up with Malcolm as he remains one of the friendliest and open riders. We spoke with “Mookie”, who by the way is signed with the team for 2025,  after his day at High Point.

 

BY JIM KIMBALL

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MALCOLM, HOW’S THE OUTDOORS GOING FOR YOU? So far, everything has been going well for me.  It has been ten years since I have been here but so far it has been going well.  The first four races treated me well.  I have been staying out of most of the carnage and trying to go out there and put in a decent result. I know it is not necessarily the best but for some of the tracks, I have not raced in ten years, so I think we are doing all right.  The only thing we can do is continue to keep building and go from there.  I want to give a shout-out to the Rockstar Husqvarna Team.  They have been doing everything they can to keep me as comfortable as I have been.  I have not really made too many adjustments on my motorcycle, so that has been very, very good! We just enjoy having a different mindset now. It is all the little things that used to get me upset and frustrated. Now you just go out there and have fun, do the best you can and whatever the results are, we can only build from there.  

Malcolm Stewart is racing his first full season of outdoors in ten years.

YOU MENTIONED THAT YOU HAVE NOT REALLY CHANGED YOUR BIKE SETUP MUCH.  IT SEEMS LIKE SOME OF THE AUSTRIAN TRIO BIKE SETUPS ARE CONSTANTLY BEING CHANGED. I don’t know necessarily too much about the other brands like Gas-Gas and KTM, but I know on the Husky side, the day when we first started testing at the beginning of the season, it was a little of a struggle in Supercross. But we figured it out and things got better and better, and now we have been racing outdoors. I think the hardest thing for me was the change and a season-ending injury that I had last year. The bike got developed and I’m trying to adapt with the bike.  The only thing I am running off is the 2022 set-up for 2024, so really, I missed a whole year. People don’t understand that the tracks change, they are not always the same each year, and they start wearing and tearing the dirt down.  For me, I was just having a hard time just making that adjustment.  The only way that you really get that back is racing, right? It was more of a struggle, but I would not say it is more on Husqvarna, I was just not really gelling with the motorcycle at first. It just takes a couple of races for me to get going.

After being sideline with injuries the past few years, Malcolm is using this season as a building block.

HOW HAS THE SCHEDULE BEEN?  WE ARE ONLY AT THE FOURTH OUTDOOR ROUND BUT YOUR SEASON WAS SO SHORT LAST YEAR?  I can tell you what, when you miss a whole year of racing, you are just glad to leave on the weekend.  When I am not racing, Fridays and Saturdays, I feel that am supposed to be somewhere.  It is hard wear and tear on your body.  Of course, the number one thing is to stay injury-free with all those races.  We did take one race of the outdoor off and added three SMX rounds, so they only added two races at the beginning of this year.  I really don’t have too much to comment on the other riders how they felt last year racing all of that but again, I say all racing is good racing. For myself, the number one thing for me is to get back racing, and I need all the races I can get.

Maclolm currently sits ninth in points.

WITH A WEEKEND OFF BEFORE SOUTHWICK, CAN YOU ACTUALLY TAKE ANY TIME OFF? No, I will end up riding three- or four times next week.  Most likely cycle on Saturday, so it is not really a vacation.  The only good thing is you don’t have to travel.  People don’t understand when you say, it is a week off, you get to chill and all of that.  That does not exist. We are all professional athletes, and we get paid for our job, so we must stay in tune, and it always feels for us when the season ends, which is really at the end of September, and pretty much, I would say you get about a month off and that is about it.