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SHANE MCELRATH
250 SX / OKLAND
IMAGE / MPG WORDS / KILPATRICK DESIGN / WILSON
>> Shane McElrath cruised into the fifth round of the season with a slight points advantage ahead of Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Justin Hill. The North Carolina native started the year off with a hot streak of two main event wins that gave him the advantage in the title hunt right off the bat; he has used his accumulated racing knowledge and consistency in order to defend a compounding championship charge. McElrath experienced some turmoil last weekend in Phoenix where he crashed out of his heat race and was forced to qualify in the LCQ, but he managed to overcome his disadvantageous gate pick in the main event and put himself in position to stay on the podium. The Troy Lee Designs KTM rider didn’t qualify in podium position this weekend in Oakland, but the seventh fastest time that he threw down between both ses- sions would undoubtedly put him in place to remain within podium contention. McElrath shot out of the gate to another stellar start in his heat race as he grabbed the early lead ahead of Jimmy Decotis and Aaron Plessinger. He was able to resist some pressure from Decotis early on, but at the halfway point
of the race he fell victim to a surge of speed by the Yamaha of Plessinger. The top four remained within
a couple seconds of one another heading into the final stages of the race, but no two riders were closer than McElrath and Decotis. The Geico Honda rider eyed up a line on the outside of the whoops section before the triple, and ultimately got a little bit overzealous; he committed to carrying his speed around the outside of McElrath and the two of them tangled bars on corner entry, ultimately sending them both to
the ground in an instant. The Troy Lee Designs KTM rider was not able to remount his machine quickly enough and had to take a trip to the LCQ for the second weekend in succession. McElrath pulled a top three start when the gate dropped in the LCQ, but remained tentative throughout the opening lap as he battled back and forth with the Oklahoma native of Chase Marquier. He was able to dispose of the Honda rider before the start of the first flying lap, subsequently setting his sights on the leader and holeshot winner, Bradley Lionnet. McElrath put his head down and made a pass for the lead through the whoops section, putting him in a position to never look back and secure his spot in the main event in a relatively routine win. Although he was forced to overcome the adversity of a poor gate pick in the main event, things ended up working out relatively well for the North Carolina native as he managed a good jump off the line. He was pushed to the outside, but he held his composure and stuck to the inside in the second corner, therefore putting him in the perfect position to slip underneath the pile up that resulted from For- kner’s faux pas. McElrath lost the drive in the ensuing rhythm section and immediately forfeited a position to the eventual race winner, Justin Hill, but a third place start as a result of the second-to-last gate pick was nothing to be upset about. McElrath battled back and forth throughout the main event with Jimmy Decotis; the New England native executed the same pass that he attempted in the heat race on the third lap, relegating McElrath to fourth position in the early stages of the moto. The pair of them paced one an- other over the course of the following laps and McElrath was eventually able to force his way back by the Geico Honda rider on the seventh lap, just as they began to work their way into lap traffic. They shared
a similar pace throughout the course of the main event, putting them within a second of one another on the final lap of action; McElrath was able to keep his composure and hold on for third place, keeping his podium streak alive for the 2017 season.
30 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 5, 2017