Page 26 - ISSUE88

SHANE MCELRATH
250 MX / 8TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / MATTINGLY DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> As the semis rolled into the Crawfordsville, Indiana area, many bikes and teams were already beginning to equip themselves for torrential rains and absurd conditions. Whoever chose to go that route, in the end, was totally in the right frame of mind; as there were few in attendance who could imagine what they saw as Saturday morning arrived. A ooded raceway appeared as more of a mud bog or shing tournament, rather than a competition course of motocross matters. Regardless, Shane McElrath and team took all necessary measures, in order to guarantee a solid effort to the best of their abilities. The quali cation process was an absolute mess, with the B session having an obvious advantage over the
A group, due to track conditions and placement of time. However, he didn’t’ complain, and got into the main event, after throwing down a fast-lap to the best of his abilities. It set him up with a mediocre gate pick for the rst round, as the eld hit the rst bend and sprayed whoever was behind. His goggles, already lled with water, acted as more of a sponge rather than vision aid, and he would have trouble viewing the course early. Skating down these large valleys and landings of tabletops, he made sure to lug the bike around, being as smooth as possible. Under the bridge, he would wheelie every lap in which he would pass, making sure to sort-of makeshift moat the bike over the gigantic puddle of water. It was a matter of will and focus, and he continued to portray those habits throughout the moto’s entirety. The race, although full length, was drastically shorter in regards to average laps, yet his stamina was being tested, constantly balancing the bike around this slippery slope of a track. As the nal ag would come about, he would nish fth. With the second moto then beginning, it was the usual suspects of Plessinger and Hampshire out front. He would look across the course, pacing himself to the best of his abilities, judging off of their laptimes. Carving through a few of these ruts, he had to be careful not to let the front end dive entirely too much. As some the topsoil covered rather large holes, and the line could have a sinking effect in an instant. Luckily, he would remain relatively unscathed, and head to the nal ag in the tenth place ride. Eighth overall would be his for the day.
26 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 26, 2018