Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 29 JULY 21, 2015 P141 burst onto the scene with such blazing speed. "He's the best I've seen at such a young age," said former World Champion and then Suzuki racing manager Roger DeCoster. "He is better than Ricky [Carmichael] was at that age and he's certainly bet- ter than I was at the same point. The 250 riders had better enjoy it while they can because I think he's capable of doing the same thing he's doing in that class that he's doing now the 125s." High praise coming from the "The Man." Besides a mechanic, Albrecht also acted as somewhat of a coach and advisor. "My job is to kind of watch the track and give him some advice," Albrecht said. "His dad does a lot of that, too. He watches lines and James is really com- fortable with him helping him. Mainly it's just making fine adjustments to the bike and on the starting line trying to calm him down and when the race is going giving him info on the pit board. But since he's new there are a lot of things like giving him directions to get to the tracks and funny little things like that." While Stewart's speed was obvious, often there is a price to be paid for the scorching velocity that he displayed. There is a fine line between riding a motorcycle at its absolute limit and pushing it beyond that limit. Stewart was still learning how to teeter on that fine line without falling over the edge. "Even in Supercross I felt like I was way faster than most of the other guys," Stewart said. "But I ended up crashing a lot. I think I was just riding too fast for the tracks. Sometimes I would come up on other riders and the speed difference was a problem. It may not have seemed like it, but I did learn what I needed to do to keep everything under control, but it's one thing to know what you should do and another actually going out and having the self-control to actually do it. "I think in the second moto at Glen Helen maybe for the first time in my pro career I stuck to a plan. I mean, I actually did crash, but I got back up and caught Brownie and pushed hard to catch Langston. I was hoping Brownie would pass Langston and I was sort of mad that he didn't. I mean I didn't want to get up there and mix it up with Brownie because we've been in it a few times and I know he'd put me down quick (Stewart smiles). Then when Langs- ton fell over I was like, 'Go Brownie, do whatever you want to do.' I backed it down a lot, maybe too much. I almost swapped it out over a tabletop and ran it off the track. But instead of pushing hard to pass Brownie I just took it down a notch, which was sort of tough for me to do." Stewart had a lot of respect for his fellow com- petitors. After all, he was a fan watching on the tube just a few months earlier. "Watching on TV and the one race I went to in person last year I watched everybody and thought, 'Dang, these guys are fast,'" Stewart said. "I know that Chad, Mike and Grant are going to give me a real challenge this season. Any of those guys, and probably even a few more, has the ability to win races. So I'm not counting on anything. I've got to go out and ride my best every time. That's what it's going to take to win the championship." Another thing that Stewart was learning to deal with was the massive attention he was receiving, even as a rookie. It seems that everyone wanted a piece of the kid. The media, the fans, dealer and show appearances—the kind of schedule Stewart keeps could get old real fast, but Stewart was seemingly handling it with ease. "I've been a little surprised by all the attention I'm getting," Stewart said. "I never thought I'd be this popular and it still hasn't sunk in yet. I think I'm only the second motocross rider to be in Sports Illustrated. I guess all of this really won't sink in until after I'm done racing. But the attention doesn't bother me. I love it when the fans come up to me and ask for autographs or the media wants to do interviews. It lets you know that you're known in the sport and they like you. I think it would be bad if people weren't coming up to me; I'd be like, 'Jeez, what can I do now?' I can deal with it. This is what I love to do and spending time with the fans signing autographs is part of what I do. It's all part of being a pro racer and I really can't complain at all." Ah, the enthusiasm of youth. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

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