Who'd hit it?...

Stewart's track...



We’ve got a guest writer this week, and it’s the Racer X Virtual Trainer Tim Crytser, who’s been down at James Stewart’s personal playground. Here’s Tim with the story.

Well, I was finally able to get over to James’ house/compound yesterday and spend some time with him and Aldon Baker. It was pretty cool for sure. James just had a bunch of dirt delivered and a brand new SX track built earlier in the morning. When I got there, James and Kyle Chisholm were pounding out their third of four motos of the day. Of course this was after starting the day off with cycling and some yoga. Getting to actually stand out on the track and watch James and Kyle literally fly over my head was jaw-dropping.

There were tracks all around us - two more supercross tracks (one of which is lighted) and an outdoor track that snaked all throughout the facility. Malcolm and one of the neighbor kids were putting in laps on the outdoor track. Malcolm was hitting this super-kicker jump that just made me cringe every time he hit it. He must have been 100 feet or more in the air. It was the highest I had ever seen a motorcycle in the air!

Malcolm looked very fast. Word has it that he is training a little and starting to take his racing as serious as his big brother. James and Kyle were all business with Aldon and James’ mechanic taking lap times for the riders.

In between motos it was off to the garage for the bikes to be tweaked and the track watered. As the riders rested and caught their breath, Aldon went over their lap times and talked about consistency and ways to lower the times. Rest was short and sweet and then it was back out to the track.

During the last set of motos I actually had to work a little. While Aldon filmed the riders for later studying, I had to take lap times. All I had to do was push a button on the stopwatch and relay the numbers to the mechanic, but somehow I was nervous. I felt like a part of the team for a few laps as I looked at the stopwatch and barked the numbers to the mechanic to relay to the pit board. Man, I could do this for a living! James was trying for his fastest times of the day and was just shy. I guess I should have hit the watch a little sooner to help him out. Man, I hope I wasn’t late on the trigger!

James was so damn fast. I have never seen a rider with as much confidence on a motorcycle as I saw in James yesterday. When he would stop and talk to Aldon, he was like, “Man, I really think I can quad that section and then triple over there, and hey can we get a water bottle holder put on my bike so I can take a drink over that jump.” He does stuff with the bike that just doesn’t seem possible.

After watching James ride (he was consistently 3 to 4 seconds faster than Kyle, and Kyle was flyin’ too), I can see a runaway season this year. The way he gets to practice and the facilities he has just isn’t fair to the rest of the riders. I guess that’s what you get when you are the fastest man in the world.

Big James didn’t say much but you can be sure he was the first to greet/interrogate me when I came through the gate. He was actually very nice and gave me a ride on the mule out to where the guys were, but he didn’t say much. Just dropped me off and was back to pushing dirt, rearranging gravel, and watering the track. I didn’t get to interview James as planned yesterday; he had to hurry up and get the Lamborghini (or was it the Ferrari?) to Orlando for some new wheels. Aldon took me on a tour of the compound, which is pretty impressive. The houses are modest and very nice, but in true motocross fashion, the garages are much bigger than the living quarters. James and his fiancee built a house right behind the house James grew up in.

Once James bugged out for the day I got to spend the rest of the time with Aldon. We talked about boring trainer stuff for a few hours, and we even went shopping for James’ birthday, which is on Sunday (he turns 23). What does a trainer get his rider who can’t find his wallet because he forgets which of his cars he drove last? Workout clothes, of course! James has invited me back today to sit down for an interview since he had to leave early yesterday. He certainly is a very nice kid with the confidence and drive to stay at the top of this sport for a very, very long time.

There were tracks all around us - two more supercross tracks (one of which is lighted) and an outdoor track that snaked all throughout the facility. Malcolm and one of the neighbor kids were putting in laps on the outdoor track. Malcolm was hitting this super-kicker jump that just made me cringe every time he hit it. He must have been 100 feet or more in the air. It was the highest I had ever seen a motorcycle in the air!

That's a bigass jump stupid...