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SHANE MCELRATH
250 MX / 3RD
IMAGE / LANG WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Shane McElrath’s performance at Muddy Creek was one for the ages. He secured his rst career overall victory in outdoor motocross and to make it even sweeter, he did so at a track he grew up rac- ing on in front of his hometown fans. He had struggled in the rst few rounds of the series and seemed to be lacking just a bit of speed, but he clearly found that a week ago. He set the fastest lap times in both motos while charging through the eld. Races like that always seem to provide a huge surge of con dence for riders so everyone was wondering what he could do at Southwick. McElrath did not be- gin his day in the sand too well. In the morning qualifying practice sessions, he was only able to secure the thirteenth fastest lap time of the class. This came as a bit of a surprise because he has historically ridden very well at Southwick, but these riders know that anything can change between practice and the races. McElrath instantly turned his day around at the start of the rst moto of the day by ripping the holeshot. He took it and immediately ran away. In a matter of just two laps, he had already built up an eight second lead. The momentum from his rst win a week ago clearly energized him. He looked awless early but as the race neared the halfway point, he slowly started to drop off his blistering pace. With each lap, he seemed to fall more and more off the pace and it all came crashing down when Austin Forkner ran him down and passed him for the lead on lap nine. Unfortunately for McElrath, that wouldn’t be the end of the passes. Both Alex Martin and Aaron Plessinger passed him on the following lap and Chase Sexton and Dylan Ferrandis would do so over the next two laps. He had quickly gone from a distant rst to sixth. There he would be able to stop the bleeding and nish the moto. De nitely a quick turn of events and he would have to regroup big time for moto two. McElrath got another great start in moto two. He ripped another holeshot, but rst moto winner Austin Forkner would take the lead away from him just a few turns into the race. McElrath then locked in behind him did his best to keep him in check. After the rst handful of laps, McElrath still had Forkner right in front of him but he also had to deal with incessant pressure from his teammate, Alex Martin. Martin applied heat for several laps before running in deep and taking second away from McElrath on lap seven. McElrath stayed calm and did not let them get too far away. But a few laps later, a charging Ferrandis would come by and push McElrath back to fourth. He must have had enough of going backwards because he stayed glued to Ferrandis despite being passed. On lap eleven, McElrath would slide into second because
of a crash involving both Forkner and Martin. He still stayed pressed to Ferrandis and actually started showing him a wheel. He wanted that moto win and threw everything he had at the Frenchman but would be unable to pass him. He’d nish second. His 6-2 scores got him third overall on the day. He rebounded in a big way in moto two but still has to be bummed with how his rst moto unfolded.
40 GRITMOTO • JULY 1, 2018