race recap
MALCOLM STEWART - GRIT 248 450SX
June 3, 2024
GRIT-248 | 450 SX
May 20, 2024 9:45 am
After showcasing flashes of speed throughout the season thus far, Husqvarna's Malcolm Stewart arrived in Nashville, ready to make a statement of sorts. Throughout practice, the Floridian was exceptional - and took his talents to the heat two platform, where he, Eli Tomac, Cooper Webb, and Jett Lawrence would combat one another. Beginning the moto in fourth, Stewart quickly saw an opportunity to move past Eli Tomac and would do so, with daring rhythm section speed. Stewart was racing with an urgency to move forward, scrubbing and staying low through rhythm lanes that most were seat-bouncing. In the whoop section as well, Stewart seemed to conduct a superb pathway that could alternate between both skipping and leaping...until a slight miscue a few laps in, would have the number twenty-seven nearly endo-(ing) in the section while trying to gain time on Cooper Webb (who was second). This enabled Eli Tomac to close-in, and with Tomac eventually making the move, Stewart then descended to fourth...where he finished as the checkered flag was thrown for this nine-lap contest. Now into the main event, Stewart did his best to navigate amongst the split-lane(d) start and into an optimal position...but opponents of high caliber were all around him as he proceeded into the first five minutes of action. Through the sand section he would fly, exiting the final right-handed bend with a standing that had seemed to be solidified around twelfth. He and Benny Bloss Were going back and forth while hoping to occupy the highest position possible...but Mookie wasn't going to let the opponent by while they stormed to the halfway point. Leaping over the multitude of singles near the starting gate with authority, he landed and swept through forthcoming right-handed corner with speed that was paralleled to race leaders...though he was just a bit off pace, in other areas of the track. Through the ninth and eleven-minute marks, Stewart appeared composed while defending his standing from that of Vince Friese who trailed...all the while passing Adam Cianciarulo, for ninth, with roughly seven minutes left on the clock. He kept Friese at bay, but a prior mistake would enable the aforementioned Bloss to work his way around when nearing completion of the moto...but Malcolm wasn't one to give up. Instead, he gave it his all en route to the finish line, finalized ahead of opponents like the previously noted Vince Friese and Dean Wilson, to claim ninth upon exiting the raceway.