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SHANE MCELRATH
250 MX / 9TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / ARMSTRONG DESIGN / TILLS
>> It has been a memorable year for Shane McElrath with many goals achieved fol- lowed by multiple set backs. Every year of racing in the AMA starts off with Supercross and Shane came out swinging at the first round in Anaheim. Since winning the A1 and being the points leader in the West Coast division Shane has had multiple set backs. These set backs have been mostly due to crashes on the race track or the test track which derailed his championship hopes in Supercross. Since then McElrath hoped to whip the slate clean coming into the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Series.
We are now 9 rounds into the outdoor series and Shane is sitting 10th in points, not ex- actly what himself or his Troy Lee Designs KTM team had hoped for. Just last weekend at Millville Shane showed signs of hope when he landed on the final step of the podium in the second moto. While giving his podium speech Shane admitted that it has been
a frustrating year and that he has been embarrassed with the results he has produced thus far.
Shane looked forward to bringing some new found confidence into this weekends race in Washougal Washington. Sadly the results did not further produce and Shane will be back to the drawing board as they approach round 10 at the historic Unadilla national. Here is a quick run down of how his motos went at Washougal.
In race one the #38 of McElrath started around mid pack but was able to get himself to 14th on the opening lap. After qualifying 3rd overall it seemed as Shane was going to catch some fire and make his way through the field. After a short five minutes of racing Shane was running in 11th position right behind 10th place. Shane was unable to main- tain his momentum moving forward and sat in 11th for the next 25 grueling minutes of the moto. Race two was not that much better for the Troy Lee Designs KTM rider as he rounded the first lap in 11th and couldn’t make passes happen. Around the midway point Shane was able to crawl his way to 8th where he would finish. This would give Shane 9th overall, very disappointing for a rider who is capable of running inside of the top 5 each and every weekend.
70 GRITMOTO • JULY 31, 2017