Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing’s Malcolm Stewart crossed the line fourth on Saturday night in Indianapolis, scoring his best result this season. Rookie Dylan Ferrandis fought his way to eighth. Aaron Plessinger finished 11th in challenging conditions at the final round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross tripleheader at the Lucas Oil Stadium.
Stewart showed strength from the start, qualifying fourth and then backing it up with a fourth-place finish in his heat race. In the Main Event, he got a solid start in sixth and was determined to finish inside the top five. The Florida rider made the pass for fifth at the halfway mark and tried to build a gap, but the competition was in pursuit. With six laps to go, the race started to heat up. Stewart was back in sixth, but a few laps later, a couple of riders up front went down, and he advanced to fourth, where he would finish.
Ferrandis had a good start to the evening, also finishing fourth in his heat race. Unfortunately, it did not go as well in the Main Event as the Frenchman found himself outside of the top 10 in 13th. He worked his way to 11th by Lap 6 with his teammate Plessinger slotted behind him. The pair exchanged positions as they closed the gap on the competition. With nine laps to go, Ferrandis moved into the top 10 and then advanced to ninth on the following lap. In the end, he crossed the line eighth for his third top-10 finish at the tripleheader. Plessinger, who was coming off a season-best performance at Indianapolis 2, ended the night in 11th.
“It was typical Indy, where you’re going into corners, and you think it’s there and it’s not. Overall I feel really good about how the night turned around for me. Indy has treated me well. I had a lot of great rides, and I rode well all day today. We just struggled a little bit in the first two (rounds). In the Main Event, I told myself, ‘Bro, you have got to get a top-five in this thing no matter what, because the boss man isn’t going to be happy. I might be finding myself doing it on my own if I don’t put the results in. We put a lot of work into this. It sucks if you don’t get the results you want, but that’s part of racing. You live, you learn, and you keep moving forward. I definitely learned a lot. We’re going to keep working and do our homework. The team has never given up. I feel like every race we’re learning. I’m very thankful that I’ve got a great team with me. So far, the changes that we’ve made have gone in the right direction. We’ll be going for it in Orlando, my hometown race back in Florida. Let’s just go have some fun.”- Malcolm Stewart
“It was a frustrating night for me. I felt that I could do better than eighth. I made a mistake by jumping off the track and missed a good opportunity. It’s time to get back to work and get ready for Orlando 1.” – Dylan Ferrandis
“I struggled today. The track was gnarly. It was hard on the base and slick around the corners. It was technical and took a lot of energy to ride. It was rough and rutted, so it was a tough one. I had the 14th gate pick for the Main Event and took a risk, and lined up all the way inside. I ended up not getting the jump off the gate, and it was a struggle from there. I did what I could. Dylan and I battled for a little bit, and I kind of just settled in where I was. We’re going to go back to work and keep trying to do better. We can take some positives out of today. I had good speed, and we made improvements to the bike. We’ll come back with a vengeance at Orlando.” – Aaron Plessinger
The Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing 450 team heads south to Orlando, Florida, for Round 7 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship at Camping World Stadium on Saturday, February 13.
