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SHANE MCELRATH
250 MX / 6TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Shane McElrath has enjoyed his best summer as a professional to date. The Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull KTM rider has been on around the podium all year and even earned his rst career overall victory which happened to be at his hometown race making it even sweet- er. He did that without winning a moto so one of his goals of winning a moto still remained. He nearly had it at Southwick the following week but came up short. Then seemingly out of nowhere at our last race at Washougal, he absolutely threw down the gauntlet in the second moto by passing Aaron Plessinger early on lap one and then pulling away from the rest of
the eld. It was a dominant moto and he made it seem like he has done it several times. So, heading into Unadilla, McElrath had a lot of momentum and con dence. McElrath looked solid in the morning qualifying practice sessions. The North Carolina product threw down the fth fastest lap time of the class. In their muddier practice session, he still clocked some solid times, so he made it known that he will be ready to do battle all day long in the mud. The rst moto did not start so well for McElrath. He started buried outside the top ten and rounded
the end of lap one in eleventh position. By lap three, he had already charged up to seventh. He was riding aggressive in the sloppy conditions and it was paying off for him. He kept the hammer down and started pressuring Chase Sexton for sixth. He did so for a few laps before making a pass happen on lap six. He ended up moving into fth because Colt Nichols would crash so he would go from seventh to fth in one lap. Here he started chasing down Michael Mosiman. He had a good chunk of time to make up, but he continually logged smooth, fast laps in the mud to inch up to him. On lap ten, he would pass Mosiman and then set his sights on another Rockstar Husqvarna rider in Mitchell Harrison. It just took him one lap to get to him and pass him to take over third with two laps to go. McElrath was one of the fastest guys on the track and ended up nishing in third. If he had the better start, he easily could have challenged for the win. Moto two did not go so well for McElrath. Problems on lap one would have him way outside the top twenty. The rest of the race was virtually damage control on his way back towards the front. Things got even worse when he ran into more problems a few laps into the race resulting in him falling back outside the top twenty. He was nally able to get rolling again but the damage was done. He would end up nishing the moto in fourteenth. A tough break after such a strong ride in moto one. His 3-14 moto scores would earn him sixth overall. He will come out swinging at Budds Creek next weekend to try and recapture that momentum he lost.
22 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 12, 2018