Eric Johnson is a man who has been around the sport long enough to know what makes people want to read an interview and he caught up with the man of the moment, Malcolm Stewart, who has just signed with the Monster Energy Kawasaki team for the 207 season. Its going to be a fun year for Kawasaki, with a rider who wants to work and make change if needed. Here is the interview Eric did this week.

“I’ve always wanted to be riding for factory Kawasaki as my brother did.”

By Eric Johnson

From the Monster Energy Kawasaki press release dated October 28, 2006:

Monster Energy Kawasaki welcomes Malcolm Stewart to its 2027 roster. Stewart’s addition to the team marks a return to his roots, having raced with Kawasaki Team Green throughout his amateur career and continuing the Stewart family’s storied history with the brand,

Added Malcolm Stewart: “I’m very excited to be joining Monster Energy Kawasaki for 2027. I started my racing career on a Kawasaki as an amateur, so coming back to the brand feels like I’m returning to my roots. It’s a full-circle moment.”

Yes, from 1999 all the way through 2009, Malcolm Stewart was an ace Team Green racer, starting out as a 65 (7-11) Modified competitor and charging all the way through 2009 as a 450A rider. And now, 18 years later, Malcolm Stewart will reconnect with Kawasaki when lines up behind the starting gate at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California for the opening round of the 2027 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship on Saturday night, January 9.

Now holding station in Southern California as he tests, trains and puts in the research and development work on the No. 27 KX450F-SR, Stewart, now 34 years old and in possession of well over a decade of world class experience, weighed in on the reality of his new surroundings.

“Right now I’m actually in Southern California,” said the veteran straight out of Haines City, Florida. “I’m just testing out here with the team. Yesterday was my third day riding the motorcycle. Everything has been going really good. I’ve really just been hanging out. I had some downtime right after the last SMX race. I’ve been doing a lot of fishing, of course. You’re boy is a big fisherman! More than anything, I’m just really stoked to be with the team. There are a lot of familiar faces. Even when I was nine years and my brother was back there in 2002, some of those people we were around are still in that building today and it’s really cool to see those guys. It’s almost like coming home again.

“You know with the Team Green program, to this day, I always thought Team Green had the best program,” furthered Stewart. “Especially back in the day. It was an awesome opportunity to be able to ride at Team Green. You don’t realize it as a kid, but those are some real special times and I’m really thankful for all the people that took care of me at that time. Everyone there was very, very good with the way they presented Team Green and all the sponsors and the kids and everything. It’s cool. I look for that truck every time! That big rig with the big green thumbs up. You see it and you know we’re alright. You know we’re going to get our parts. If we need anything, they’re there to help.”

Has Malcolm looped in his brother James and father Big James Stewart about just what’s going on with his new reality?

“Oh yeah, oh yeah,” enthused Stewart. “My dad is really stoked. My brother is really happy for me. A lot of people don’t know that my dad still has green cabinets at their house right now. They put them in a long time ago. My dad’s first motorcycle was a Kawasaki. He’s always been a Kawasaki guy. A lot of people are like, ‘Big James has green cabinets?!’ Yes he does. He has green cabinets in his shop. The very first shop built had green cabinets. They’re still green to this day.”

And upon the news of Malcolm Stewart making the move to Monster Energy Kawasaki, the motocross community immediately reacted and lit up every communication channel the world over.

“Oh yeah. It’s cool,” remarked Stewart. “It’s just a really cool opportunity. It’s different, you know? I think for me, it’s the history of the Stewarts. Not just Malcolm Stewart, but the Stewarts in general. I think so many people are so stoked. My phone has been blowing up. Everybody is super excited for me. Everybody is like, ‘Man, your number is 27. Your birthday was October 27.’ There are just so many cool things that are happening with this. We’re very, very excited and blessed with the opportunity that Kawasaki has given me.”

Now off the Husqvarna FC 450 Factory Edition and upon the 2027 Monster Energy Kawasaki KX450F-SR, it has been all systems go for Stewart and the band of Kawasaki mechanics and technicians behind him.

“So far it has been awesome,” explained Stewart. “Everything has been going good. It’s going very, very good. It’s just good to be with a team that have very familiar faces in it. They can understand a rider individually. I’m very, very blessed to have those people. We can’t wait to get to work and show these boys what’s up.”

Racing the Husqvarna FC 450 Factory Edition motorcycle going back to 2022, has the switch to Kawasaki equipment been profound for Stewart?

“You know what? Of course anytime you switch to a different brand, it’s going to be different, but I personally think that with this new Kawasaki KX450 they came out with, it’s actually really, really good and I heard nothing but positive things about it even before I rode it. I finally got to ride it and it has been going really good so far. I’m actually more blown away with how it has been handling right off the start. Normally, it takes me a while to adjust with a different motorcycle. I felt right at home with this motorcycle. We’re at the very, very early stages of testing. Just learning how to ride the bike. Having fun. Enjoying it. We’re slowly starting to edge into dialing-in the comfort stuff. We started going in stages. Again, so far it has been going really good. The team is really, really, really positive about every single thing. They’re there for me. Anything I want from that motorcycle, they are willing to do. It’s good to have a team that’s willing to throw everything out to help you be better. That’s the team that I want to surround myself with and they want to win.”

Stewart explained just how the Monster Energy Kawasaki came about and ultimately fell into place.

“It’s funny to say,” said Stewart. “I’ve had this kind of weird opportunity with Kawasaki a few times, but it wasn’t a complete and for sure answer. That kind of happened a few times in my career and we weren’t really sure. Things just didn’t work out at that time. This time around, I got the phone call from Bruce Stjernstrom and Dan Fahie at Kawasaki and they were like, ‘Malcolm, we’re really serious this time.’ I said, ‘Okay, let’s do it!’ At the time there was a lot of seats open and Kawasaki was like, ‘No, we want Malcolm. We feel like he’s the best fit for our program. He always has a great and positive attitude.’ I think I was what they were looking for. I just think they were looking for someone who is going to give it everything they have got, right? I felt like I pretty much checked all those boxes off and I got the opportunity and I went for it. But yeah, it was a really big question mark. A lot of people didn’t know about it. It kind of came out of nowhere. I was actually kind of shocked myself a little bit. Kawasaki was really full force about it and I liked that. They didn’t drag their feet and they told me everything they wanted. They wanted me and I had a contract the next day. It was awesome. I was stoked. And I’d rather be with people you’re familiar with. I felt like this would be the best opportunity for me for the long haul. I’m very stoked and blessed that to be Kawasaki. And I’ve always wanted to be riding for factory Kawasaki as my brother did. So this is one of the items on the list I always wanted to check off. If I pass up the opportunity to ride for a team that I’ve always wanted to be on, I just don’t know if I can forgive myself. Especially at this stage in my career. Let’s take the opportunity, have fun with it, make history and go out there and try and win races. When I told my dad about the while Kawasaki thing, he goes, ‘Alright, go finish what you started.’ He’s more stoked than I am! He’s just a proud father, right? I know when he got off the phone with me, he started dusting off those green cabinets!”