All this while his older brother
James, a two-time Supercross
Champion, was commentating
from the broadcast booth.
"I knew Chase was kind of in
-
decisive through the whoops, he
was going to
the right, then the
middle, then the left," Stewart
said. "I knew that was my point.
If I could just get through these
whoops fast and put that pres
-
sure on him, I knew I'd probably
start
getting in his mind. Then
I could get his mind starting to
think. Then I started seeing him
switch his lines up all over the
racetrack. 'I'm going to go for it.'
I had that mindset through the
whoops. I was on the right-hand
side, we were going into this
corner together, and I'm going
to put pressure on him. Then
I started to see that front end
wash, and he went down, unfor
-
tunately."
Cooper Webb crossed
the line
in second place for the second
week in a row. The Monster
450SX
It's been a long time coming for
Malcolm Stewart. The popu-
lar veteran is now in his 15th
season
as a pro, and Tampa
marked his 109th career start.
Stewart, a Florida native, looked
fast all day on his home turf
and qualified third overall. This
set the tone for the night, as
the Husqvarna rider had some
quick lines up his sleeve. He put
those lines to work in the 450SX
main event, marching his way
through the field from an eighth-
place start and passing former
race winners Cooper Webb and
Ken Roczen with ease. With
Stewart's blazing whoop speed,
he had leader Chase Sexton
in his sights after the halfway
mark. On lap 19 of 23, Sexton
went down in the whoops, and
Stewart was right there to capi-
talize. To the crowd's approval,
"Mookie"
rode away to his first-
ever 450SX win, finishing seven
seconds ahead of second place.
VOLUME 62 ISSUE 6 FEBRUARY 11, 2025 P67
and took me out. It took me a minute to
get up, and I was pretty far behind, so I
just focused on finishing. I would have
been happy with a seventh or better,
considering how the day went, but that
is just the way that it goes."
24 RJ HAMPSHIRE
18TH 250SX EAST
RJ Hampshire tangled with a tuff
block and struggled to finish inside
the top 20. "I didn't get a good start
and got pushed around a bit during
the opening laps. Then, around lap
three, I caught a tuff block on my
footpeg, and from there, the rest is
history. I couldn't get it out for some
time. It's disappointing because I felt
good tonight. I have dug myself a
bit of a hole, although we've done it
before, and I know I can get out of it."
MYOWNRACE
51 JUSTIN BARCIA
6TH 450SX
Justin Barcia matched his season-
best finish with a sixth in Tampa. "I
got off to a pretty good start in the
main," he said. "The track was super-
technical, and we had some good
battles. I'm really hungry to get that
podium, and I know with how we're
working, we'll get there soon."
Cooper Webb
scored another
second-place finish
and moved to
second in points.
