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SHANE MCELRATH
250 SX / 3RD
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> 2018 appeared to be the big redemption year for Shane McElrath after how well the rst round of
the season went for him. He grabbed the holeshot way back at Anaheim 1 and never looked back en route to a commanding opening victory. Many thought this would be the Shane McElrath we would see all season; The one that was out for vengeance after a mechanical issue effectively ended his strong title aspirations just a season ago. But that would prove to not be the case. He struggled mightily to the likes of Aaron Plessinger, Joey Savatgy, and Adam Cianciarulo. He would only nish on the podium at two more races after that opening night victory, that is until he nally broke free and returned to being his usually self last weekend in Salt Lake City, bringing home a commanding victory. He would like to keep it rolling in Las Vegas and head into the outdoor series with a nice little two-win streak to end the season. After a big win, McElrath surprisingly lacked speed and intensity in the qualifying practice sessions and was really struggling to nd a groove. He would be the eighth fastest in the 250SX West coast division and fourteenth fastest overall in the 250 class. De nitely not where you’d expect someone of his caliber to be, but he is smart enough to make the necessary adjustments before the races.
McElrath kicked off his night of racing with a good start in his heat race. He rounded the rst lap locked in behind a pair of dueling teammates in Joey Savatgy and Adam Cianciarulo. He watched them go at it and even applied pressure of his own at various points of the race but could not make anything stick and would have to be content with taking home third place before going back and gearing up for the main event.
McElrath started the nal main event the way he started the rst main event, with a holeshot. The Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull KTM machine grabbed the early lead and looked to anchor it down. He immedi- ately became under re from Geico Honda’s Jeremy Martin who, in the East coast division, has also been coming on strong as of late. Martin threw everything he could at McElrath but McElrath had a counter for all of it. When it seemed he nally got Martin off his back, Adam Cianciarulo began applying pressure as well and passed him almost right away. He pushed McElrath back to second place allowing for Martin to once again go after him. McElrath responded to the pressure well and didn’t falter but late in the race,
he would run into pressure again. This time from Jordon Smith. Smith kept the hammer down and would pass McElrath with two laps to go. This sent McElrath back to third where he would end up nishing the race. He did not secure another victory, but he ended his last two races with a rst and a third and that will surely be enough to get him excited and eagerly ready to anticipate the beginning of the outdoor season.
34 GRITMOTO • MAY 6, 2018