Page 26 - Issue34

SHANE MCELRATH
250 SX / AZ
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / LANNAN DESIGN / WILSON
>> Shane McElrath has been a man on a mission so far in 2017. Until last week at Anaheim, it seemed he would be unstoppable this season. Coming into Arizona this weekend, Shane was still holding the red plate proudly and was determined to keep his grasp on the rest of the field. Shane qualified
5th fastest and was ready to continue his fantastic season. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the start he wanted when 250 Heat 2 began but he made the best of it. He was banging bars with riders early on and had to demand his way into 3rd place by the second lap. Then, as he was running 3rd place, he came up a little short on a jump in the first rhythm section, which forced him to case the next one. Shane then had no choice but to slam into the Arizona soil. Fortunately, he got up injury free and would go to the LCQ. Shane would take advantage of the extra track time given to him in the Last Chance and cruise to an easy win by checking out the new lines in the rutted track. He was lined up all the way on the outside as the Main was about to begin but luckily for him, the gate pick wasn’t as much of an issue due to the long start straight. Shane got a great jump when the gated dropped and was able to power his TLD KTM into 3rd place by the time the riders made it into the second rhythm section. Just a few sections later, Shane found his-self battling for 2nd place with Justin Hill. This motivated Shane to push forward and he began to creep up on leader, Forkner. Just a few laps in, Shane dove to the inside in the corner after the sand and made the pass stick on the rookie as he demanded the lead. Shane then focused on his race and put down lap after lap of consis- tency. That is, of course until just a few laps left he began to hear and feel the pressure of the Monster Kawi rider in Jusin Hill. With three laps to go, Shane went outside after the whoops and a lapped rider slowed him down just enough to let Justin Hill sneak by on the inside. Shane was able to put a block pass on Justin the very next corner but was passed back a lap later. Shane was forced to settle for 2nd place in Arizona. He now sits 4 points ahead of Justin Hill in the standings.
26 GRITMOTO • JANUARY 29, 2017