Welcome to Stewartville, Population:...
Welcome to Stewartville, Population: Jumps.
On his recent trip with Yamaha to the sunny expanses of Central Florida for GNCC and National Enduro fun, Dirt Rider's Jesse Ziegler made a stop by the Stewarts' heavenly jump-filled playground. While James wasn't available for a private riding demonstration Jesse was lucky enough to have free run of the place. Check out what a lap around Stewart's track(s) is like.
Right inside the property,...
Right inside the property, under the stadium lights, a track crew was busy re-building the upper Supercross track. Why? Well, I spoke to "Big James" (Stewart Sr.) about the rebuild and he said James basically said it wasn't any fun. So, he had it rebuilt. You gotta' enjoy your work, I suppose.
Here's one of the first doubles...
Here's one of the first doubles I saw on the outdoor track and where we started our lap (in a utility vehicle). I thought this was scary until I saw the rest of the track.
Here's the view from the first...
Here's the view from the first double. By the look of the line direction off the face, I'm guessing James, Malcolm and friends go a bit sideways and upside down. Look ahead and get ready for a hard right turn.
Here's the big whoop-roller...
Here's the big whoop-roller section after the big right turn. It's long and fast and if you're on top of these beasts you're really moving. Looks easy? Not. Especially when you're heading into the following rhythm section.
"Weeee!" Or "Crrraaaaaap!"...depending...
"Weeee!" Or "Crrraaaaaap!"...depending on your skill level. The whoops are off-camera to the left. Count it: Step-on, Step-off, HUUUUGE Double Hucker Jump, and Double into the right turn. You're hand is on the screen making bike noises isn't it?
After the rhythm section,...
After the rhythm section, you go down a roller straight, jump through a couple counties over a big table top, make some turns and head parallel to the rhythmn section towards this ridiculous step-up. Or, THE SCARIEST JUMP IN THE WORLD.
A lot of people in the office...
A lot of people in the office said, "That jump doesn't look that scary..." Well, it is, I assure you. That's why people in the office aren't Motocross and Supercross champions. That's Yamaha's Tim Olsen on the take off. I'm shooting his photo from the Scary Jump landing. Yes, that's a double before it, too.
That's little ol' me on the...
That's little ol' me on the highly elevated landing. People in the know say Malcolm Stewart bottoms out his KX250 (yes, the two-stroke) on the takeoff and floats this no problem. Yes, you have to land between two trees.
Immediately following the...
Immediately following the Scary Jump, you get to huck these two opposing jump patches. Every jump on Stewart's track has zero safety built into the landings. They're that good. I'm not. That's why I'm in a utility vehicle with a camera.
The outdoor track wraps around...
The outdoor track wraps around and cuts between the two Supercross Tracks and a "mini" bike arenacross-type of track (which I might ride on my full-size bike). This is the lower Supercross track and the one Stewart has been riding most. Can you find the Scary Jump? Yikes!
Track security is tight. Luckily,...
Track security is tight. Luckily, we were there for official Yamaha business and had a free pass.
Big James gave us a quick...
Big James gave us a quick tour of the car shop. There's nothing like a row of rare American muscle cars to round out your day of peaking adrenaline levels.
Thanks to the Stewart crew for opening up for our impromptu visit and especially to James for donating a signed Answer Jersey to our buddy Andrew Trevitt's benefit auction that Yamaha organized during the Daytona Bike Week festivities.