Page 126 - issue-36

SHANE MCELRATH
250 SX / TEXAS
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / ROEWER DESIGN / WILSON
>> After such a killer start to the season Shane McElrath has been hunting down Justin Hill these last couple rounds fighting for that top spot on the podium. Heading into the last round before the the 250 west coast break begins, Mcelrath was on fire all day long qualifying fourth into the night show. Once the real racing began, the TLD Red Bull KTM rider was nothing but focus on the start- ing line. The second the gate dropped for his heat race Mcelrath charged to the first turn getting the hole shot. Never looking back, he finished in first and moved onto the main event. Gaining yet another flawless holeshot, Mcelrath put his orange machine in
the lead right away during the main event. He was able to pull
a small lead on the current points leader right away looking in- credibly comfortable on the slick track conditions. Mcelrath lead fifteen of the twenty laps in the main event before he was forced to pull off the track from mechanical problems on his bike. After riding into the mechanics’ area and talking to them he pulled back onto the track just hoping to gain some points. Unable to ride the track comfortably on his broken bike Mcelrath cruised around all the way through the finish. This created a huge gap in the points chase between himself and Justin Hill. Mcelrath now sits back
in second place 25 points away from first. Not the way anyone wanted to see the KTM rider head into the long break.
126 GRITMOTO • FEBRUARY 12, 2017