James Stewart has finally been issued his penalty from the FIM stemming from a failed drug test during the 2014 supercross season – a 16-month suspension retroactive to the date of the failed drug test last April. The ruling comes eight months after the failed drug test occurred and six months after the results were made public. Under this ruling, Stewart is ineligible to compete in any event until August 11, 2015 – which would put him out of action for both the upcoming supercross season and the first ten rounds of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship.

In preparation for his upcoming Lucas Oil Pro Motocross debut, Aaron Plessinger has been using the break in the 250SX West Region Supercross schedule to begin testing for the outdoor season. With the backing of the powerful Yamalube/Star Racing/Yamaha team and impressive results early in the Supercross season - he earned top-five results in both of his first two races, plus a podium finish at Anaheim 3 - Plessinger has the look of a rookie to watch this summer. The 19-year-old certainly thinks so. “Outdoors, I think, is gonna be my shining moment,” he tells Racer X in the video above. “I like rough tracks, and all the outdoors are super rough, and I’ve always been pretty good at wide-open and rough tracks. So I think it’s gonna be a good season.” Check out the full video to watch Plessinger rip practice laps on the track, and hear what else he has to say about his season.