Main image by Kellen Brauer
Between all the struggles had on the new generation KTM and Husqvarna models from several riders in 2022, Malcolm Stewart put his best supercross season ever together finishing third in the 450SX championship. A lot of things went well for Stewart in supercross, but he ultimately just fell short of his first ever race victory and then injured his knee late in the season that required him to miss the first half of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship. Even so, the progress was noticeable throughout the year and now he has a whole year under his belt with the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna team as he builds towards 2023.
What is on the cards for Mookie in 2023? We caught up with him this week to find out.
Racer X: Gearing up for 2023. Just reflecting on 2022 a little bit, obviously the supercross season was great. Missed a little bit of the outdoors but came back at the end. How do you surmise it all and then build forward to ’23 with it?
Malcolm Stewart: I feel great. I’m just glad that I had a solid supercross season with the whole Rockstar Energy Husqvarna group. I just like being around the guys. Having a two-year deal is a big deal for me. It just takes all that weight off your shoulders. Ever since I got on the big bikes, I feel like I’ve only had these little one-year deals and stuff. I don’t wish that upon anybody because that would stress anybody out. I’m just glad to have a full year under my belt. This is obviously going onto my second off-season training with Aldon [Baker]. I just like the team environment around here. It’s good. Of course, we have RJ Hampshire, Jalek Swoll, our new member Christian Craig. All the people that I’ve been around, I have known for years. So that’s really cool. It’s almost like a reunion, catching up with everybody. So, it’s just cool to have that and the team is super laid back. A lot of the team members that are working in our pit I’ve known since amateur or just from teams and stuff. So, it’s cool to just finally connect those dots. I think one of the biggest things that helps me out is being back home in Florida. I’m close to my family. anybody that knows me, I’m a very family-orientated guy. I don’t really work that well away from them but being there is definitely a big help for me, and obviously training with Aldon. Knowing him for a long time when he was with James and stuff, so it’s just kind of like a reunion for me. It’s like, just step back in that door and what’s up, guys? Long time, no see.
Talking about the two-year deal, same people, like you said. Same environment, all that. How much better off-season has it been then to not have anything hanging over contract-wise or any of that? You just role right into this year.
It’s great, man. It’s a big relief. Sometimes it’s so easy, you can oversee it. The other day, right when I kind of signed my deal with those guys I was like, it’s a big reality check for me. A year ago, before that, you were sitting here questioning yourself like, who is going to pick me up? What am I going to do? Just knowing that a team like this believes in me and has that belief in me, and I go out there and try to do the best I can. Ending the season with those guys this year on a podium is a big deal for those guys, especially with the brand, the Austrian brand and stuff like that. So, it’s good. I’m glad that they believe in me, and they saw something in me. I just want to repay them the best I can.
Looking back at ’22, we thought towards the end of the year maybe the win was on the cards for you to get your first win. Never did happen, but you still ended up third in the championship which is still really good. So, how do you kind of reset your goals going into 2023? Is it kind of the same mindset where you’re going out for that first win and taking nothing less?
That’s right. I just think being consistent is what got me the podium overall. I felt like we learned a lot. I felt like we got better towards the end of the year, for sure. It’s just learning the bike, learning the team, everything. The ups and downs. I feel like this team definitely the structure of it is awesome. Even when they’re down, those guys are always steady, searching and trying to figure out what we can do better, how can we be better as a team. I like that. Yeah, we’re not a major team when you actually step back and look at it, but we all work our butts off, and I like that. I love that about the team. So, my goal for sure of course is we’re going to get that win, and it’s going to stay that way, but again, it’s all about being consistent and earning myself another solid supercross season. I don't know where that’s going to be, but I know that the prep that I’ve had so far, I see ourselves being up top.
Talking about the bike a little bit, you made it work for you last year. What sort of improvements have you felt already this off-season that you’re excited about going into the racing season?
I felt like this past year of course we came out with a new bike. I don't want to say it was an undeveloped bike, but I just felt like the bike was not race craft yet. You don’t know how a new bike is going to be until you go racing. That’s just the honest truth. So, that’s the reason why I said I felt like towards the end of the year we started getting better. That’s because we started figuring the bike out, the good, the bad… It’s an amazing motorcycle and I can’t take anything away from it, but everybody has their own personal how they like their motorcycle set up. So, it took a little bit for me to get it dialed in, but I think we got it a lot better and then everything that we learned in supercross in the racing conditions, we even got even more for the off-season. So, I feel like we’re a lot ahead of the program and we’re running strong right now. So, again, I can sit here and say how great the bike is and how great everything is. We don’t really know exactly how it is until we go racing, but I will say one thing that hasn’t changed, whether I’m winning or losing, doesn’t matter. I’m happy where I’m at.
Looking at ’23 as a whole, we go all the way until October now. It’s going to be a long season. Obviously, a grind. How do you mentally prepare yourself for that?
I’m not stoked on it, if that’s what you’re asking me. It’s cool from a fan’s perspective, but I think as the rider’s perspective, it definitely can shift a lot of cards mentally because you’ve got to stay motivated that long. A lot of rides are like, it’s sick, and then you actually go and look at a calendar and you’re like, okay… But it’s definitely a sore subject for me. I always say the cool thing about super motocross is you can have a really good supercross season and not do so well in outdoors and still have a shot to win the super motocross series. So, that part is cool, I think. It’s just mentally staying motivated all the way until mid-October. So, that’s the kicker. That’s a very long shot from now. I don't know what the case may be. I don't know what I’ll be doing by that time. All I know is I need to just take everything race by race and focus on that every Saturday and take it from there. There are no promises, but I’m going to do the best I can to be in the hunt the whole way through.