Malcolm Stewart struggled in the opening rounds of the 2024 Monster Energy Supercross season and faded during the SuperMotocross World Championship, but he was strong in the middle.
Stewart was coming off the best Supercross season of his career in 2023. He entered that season with self-confidence and a new vision of his riding style. Stewart was determined to stack results and use consistency to find his way to the top of the standings.
He rode well in Anaheim but crashed and finished near the back of the pack. The same thing happened the following week in San Diego, but the worst was still to come. Before the third round of the 2023 Supercross season, Stewart crashed in practice and injured his knee. He was out for the season.
The 2024 season began with questions about how Dylan Ferrandis would transition to Phoenix Honda. Those queries remain.
When NBC caught up with him between the 2023 and 2024 seasons, he had the same attitude.
“You know how it goes; it’s just always ups and downs and you get injuries,” Stewart told NBC Sports at the time. “You put all that work in for three months from October all the way to December and then you get hurt like that – and to get hurt early in the season. At one point, I was leading last year, and we were pretty much to the finish line to at least get a podium, and then I lost control. … That’s part of it. I guess I would say that’s part of the process, but it was a rough year last year.”
Stewart started the 2024 season modestly. He failed to crack the top 10 in the first three rounds, coming close once with an 11th in Anaheim 1. He eased into the top 10 in the second Anaheim race and finished 11th in the following round.
Christian Craig’s time with Husqvarna was filled with injuries but he can prove his critics wrong with a solid run at this former team.
The consistency he sought at the beginning of 2023 finally arrived. Stewart finished between sixth and 11th in the next 21 rounds, encompassing the end of the Supercross season and the start of Pro Motocross.
One of the most amazing things about this record was that Stewart had yet to complete a full Motocross season since 2013, the year he graduated from 250s into the 450 division.
When he finally earned his first top-five of the season, a fourth-place finish at Unadilla in the penultimate Motocross race, it appeared he was peaking at the right time. Stewart finished 10th in the season finale and entered the SuperMotocross playoffs seeded seventh.
The 2024 season began with questions about how Dylan Ferrandis would transition to Phoenix Honda. Those queries remain.
Stewart finished seventh in Round 1 of the SMX playoffs, but began to slip the following week and scored his worst finish (13th) in 27 weeks at Texas Motor Speedway. He was one of the first riders out of the season finale at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and dropped to 17th in the final rundown.
But Stewart proved he could execute the plan he tried to implement at the start of 2023. He was stacking the results he needed and when things went his way, he challenged for top-fives. In addition to his fourth-place finish in Unadilla, Stewart finished sixth or seventh on seven other occasions. With confidence fully restored and a good set of notes, Stewart has an opportunity to stand on the podium early in 2025.
2024 Statistics
Feature starts: 31
Average feature finish: 9.94
Top-fives: 1
Top-10s: 23
Best finish: Fourth (Unadilla MX)
SMX Standings/payout: 17th/$30,000
2024 News
SuperMotocross riders take on Paris Supercross
Malcolm Stewart climbs in Pro Motocross, enjoys every minute of the day
With knee injury healed, Stewart expects to challenge in 2024
450 Countdown
12. Dylan Ferrandis
13. Christian Craig
14. Shane McElrath
15. Dean Wilson
250 Countdown
12. Max Anstie
13. Julien Beaumer
14. Coty Schock
15. Ryder DiFrancesco
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