Source: Supplied.

Malcolm Stewart will enter this weekend’s third round of the 2017 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship with minimal preparation time aboard his new RIDE365-backed Suzuki RM-Z450.

Claiming the 2016 eastern regional 250SX title with GEICO Honda before opting out of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, Stewart was left without a seat ahead of the 2017 season.

Now in a largely privateer effort, the younger brother of James Stewart will head to Anaheim 2 without any suspension testing and just two days on his engine package he personally purchased and fitted to his dealer-provided motorcycle.

“I seriously just got a motor two days ago, still have zero testing and there is no suspension testing going on,” Stewart told MXVice.com. “I just went and bought my motors, they gave them to me and said ‘here you go.’

“There is, for sure, no suspension testing that will happen this weekend. It is just going to be bolted on and if I do not like it then we’ll try again next week.

“Yoshimura definitely helped me out. I went into Yoshimura R&D, bought my motors and everything that I needed to race. I got a little bit of help from Showa too. Everything that you see on the motorcycles has definitely come out of my pocket.

“Don’t get me wrong, some of it was not full price. I didn’t pay full retail on it! People have definitely helped me out a lot and I’m happy. I can’t go wrong and I’m just glad to be going racing again.”

Putting together the details of his new program in just the last two weeks, the 24-year-old is unsure where he will stack up in the hotly-contested 450SX category.

“I feel ready,” he said. “You don’t know how you are going to do until you get there. I could sit here and say that I am hoping to shoot for a top ten, top five or the box. You do not know until you have done your first race.

“Obviously I do expect one thing – that is to do good for myself and prove some people wrong. It is never going to happen at the first race, so we’ll just prove some people wrong by the end of the season. Like I said, my goal is to get out there and have fun.”

In regards to his older brother making a return to the circuit, Malcolm believes the icon of the sport will make his long-awaited return when the series heads to the east coast of America.

“Hopefully he’ll shoot for around Daytona – there are a lot of predictions,” he added. “You’ll definitely see him as we move towards the east rounds or maybe a little bit sooner, like at Dallas, but the first thing is getting him a manufacturer and some support.”