Even with the appendix injury, Anstie made all the races this year. The 33-year-old said next year he wants to clean up the small stuff and really be a title contender.

“It's been great to make every race,” Anstie said. “That's the goal, but I've really missed a lot of time in the week. I came in really strong for Anaheim 1, and then it obviously kind of went a little downhill, got my appendix out after Seattle. …I've definitely lost a little intensity this middle end of the season, so to get on the podium tonight was fantastic because it's tough, man. The class is stacked. The riders are all going really fast, and you've got to put it all together.”

“There's one thing to be there, but there's another thing to be there and firing on all cylinders,” he continued. “So, pleased. I can take away a lot of positives from this season, obviously coming in strong, settings, set up, how I worked through things. But I definitely think next year if I can eliminate the niggly weird things, which, I mean, it kind of just an appendix is an appendix, you can't, can't really plan for that or move around that, but it is what it is. And I think if I can put all those pieces of the puzzle together, hopefully we'll be in a situation where we're fighting for the title come here next year.”

Anstie is looking forward to the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, having missed the first half of the 2024 season (while switching to Star Yamaha that summer) and missing all of 2025 with a broken leg. Unfortunately, he did not get a ton of testing in due to his appendix surgery.

“I've done a few days, and I felt really good, honestly, when I did a few days,” Anstie said. “But like I said, so when I first got my appendix out, that was when we had the big break…Had to miss the whole three weeks. I kind of got back on the bike right before Birmingham, did Birmingham, and then St. Louis, but then I had to have another two weeks off just from little things, complications from it all.”

Is Anstie a title contender in this 250 Class that feels wide open with two-time 250 Class Champion Haiden Deegan now moved to the 450 Class full-time starting this summer?

“As far as it goes, I'm pleased,” he said on his Pro Motocross prep so far. “We've obviously got three weeks, two weekends now to roll into Pala. I'm excited for outdoors. I didn't race any outdoors last year. I broke my leg. But I'm still a GP guy. I've raced nine years of MXGPs in my career, many of those on a 450. So, I'm looking forward to being healthy for outdoors, having a few weeks' prep, and seeing what I can do on this bike in outdoors.

“This is an opportunity for me,” he continued. “It's one of the main reasons I came to this team in the first place: to experience this Star Yamaha in outdoors at its full force. I'm excited for that and excited to put some time into that.

“Since moving to America, my main focus has been learning supercross and figuring out whoops, and figuring out how to excel at that, because that's kind of the dream,” he added. “But outdoors still has a special place for me, and I've obviously spent many years beating around the heart of motocross, I guess, in Europe, and looking forward to getting back into the swing of that and seeing how we go.”

The experienced veteran is looking forward to May 30.

“Now, I'm just looking forward to getting out of here feeling good,” he said, “and putting in a few solid weeks, and getting ready for Pala.”

Max Anstie's 2024 Pro Motocross Results