Twisted Tea Suzuki teammates Shane McElrath and Kyle Chisholm haven’t started 2023 exactly how they’ve wanted to. Both have found themselves in too many last chance qualifiers and the results aren’t coming as quickly as they’d hoped. Oakland seemed to be a step in the right direction, especially for McElrath who qualified well and ran just outside of the top 10 for much of the main event. Unfortunately for Chisholm, he injured his knee prior to Oakland and wasn’t sure he’d even race. He did though, made the main and finished up in 18th.
Six rounds into 2023, we talked to both of them to see how Oakland went for each of them as well as how things are feeling moving into the mid-point of the season.
Shane McElrath | 16th
Racer X: Sixteenth on the night, but overall, it looked like just a better day. Would you say that that’s fair to say?
Shane McElrath: Much better all around. We did a lot of work this week. Had some really long days. We’re not done working. It’s been a process. Honestly, I got started late and haven’t been really prepared. For me, it’s just been playing a lot of catch-up. The team has been working hard. The team is learning, also. We’re all working together and trying to better the bike. We have really good resources. It’s kind of learning to make them work together. So, I’m excited about the progress. We’ve still got some ways to grow and room to grow, but today felt like my first race day. I actually showed up, I practiced good, I raced a lot better. My heat race wasn’t very good, but in the main, for the first half of it at least was a good direction. I’m happy with the progress and I’m excited to get back to work.
Obviously, the track was super gnarly. Are you extra happy that everything worked as well as it did on such a gnarly track?
Yeah, it was definitely encouraging. That was kind of what happened in the main. I made a couple mistakes and kept them with me. I didn’t let them go. Everybody was making mistakes, but I made some mistakes and then started riding defensively because the guys were right behind me. Which, that’s the first time I’ve been in that situation all year. Had to kind of get some confidence from that. The track was definitely tough. It was very busy. Personally, I thought it was a good challenge. I like the slower tracks like that, but it was tough.
Were you more comfortable blitzing or jumping? Or did you go back and forth?
I’m not sure. This is the first Oakland I’ve been to where there’s not been a dedicated jumping line. I was kind of doing both. Sometimes I would bounce through, because I was trying to jump, and I’d end up skimming. So, a little bit of everything.
With the comfort level that you’re starting to feel on the bike now, are you excited for a Triple Crown or are you kind of like, “I wish we had another normal weekend again? “
Actually, I forgot that next weekend was a Triple Crown. Honestly, I think it’s going to be good, just the progress that I’m making. I need to do some more work on my starts. I’m trying to find some consistency there. I’m better but I’m not too happy with my starts. So, still trying to figure those out. Next weekend, I can get some good starts and I feel like I can battle. Like tonight, I had ten or twelve minutes, so next week it’s just encouraging to go into the Triple Crown like, all right, I’m going to race these guys this weekend.
Kyle Chisholm | 18th
Racer X: Eighteenth on the night. You said coming in, you weren’t feeling too hot. Still put it into the main event and had a half-decent ride. Are you satisfied, or are you just annoyed that you’re hurt, and you can’t do what you want to do?
Kyle Chisholm: A little bit of all of it. Happy to just get through. The track was gnarly. Everybody has told you that probably that you’ve talked to. It was really technical, just from a design standpoint, but then this dirt here in Oakland always breaks down a lot, ruts up. So, even if it was a simple track, that would make it super technical. But it was a technical, busy track and the dirt. So, as you could probably see all day, crashes and just chaos happening. It was tough. So, Wednesday this week I was doing some testing and didn’t crash, just caught my foot in a rut and twisted my leg pretty bad. Scared me at first. It’s a knee I’ve had two ACL’s done on in the past. Scared me at first. Honestly Thursday I didn’t even think I was going to be able to ride this weekend. Did a lot of therapy. Rested it Thursday and Friday, then obviously flew here. It improved quite a bit in a couple days. As it improved, I think my knee joint is okay. Talking to the doctor and I think it’s more of a patella tendon, like kneecap issue. So it just hurts. My knee stability and everything seems to be okay. I have an MRI scheduled Monday just to make sure. But all in all, I’ve had enough knee injuries that I think I’m good. It really just hurt. Just dealing with the pain. I was kind of timid all day with the track. Just kind of scared to put it down all day, which isn’t ideal in those conditions either. So, the day was rough. Just missed it in the heat race. Made it through the LCQ. The little extra track time probably helped me. Main event, didn’t have a good start and just made it through. Just out of the battle where I want to be, but all things considered, happy to be healthy, get the knee rested up a little bit and try to get some riding in this week if I can and then try again next week.
Is it a consistent pain or did it hurt more to hit whoops or to hit a corner?
It’s more just like squatting, putting a load on it. Sitting to standing, landing, just that load on the front of the knee. Your patella just from your kneecap to really where it attaches on my shin. They kind of think I just have a strain or a sprain on it right there. Just painful. Knee integrity seems good, just hurts.
In terms of the track, like you said, it got gnarly. Was it as gnarly as you expected it, gnarlier, not as gnarly?
I think it was what I expected. Being 35 and racing a lot, I kind of know what to expect. I’ve raced Oakland when it’s even much softer and ruttier, and I’ve raced it when it’s drier a little bit than that too. Like I said, all in all, just in general, it was a busy, technical track even if it was like a hard pack track. But then you throw in that softer dirt, and it breaks down, the whoops, a long set of whoops, then a gnarly dragon back and another long set of whoops, and the track conditions. It was just gnarly, busy. It is what I expected. Having that experience helps a little bit to kind of know what it’s probably going to do. But it’s always different each week still. Just having fun racing the young guys. I’m old, and just having fun out here.
Moving forward with therapy, I’m sure you’re going to do a little bit more of it this week. Is it something that you feel is just going to keep getting slowly better, or do you think it’s going to get a lot better quickly?
Honestly, when I did it, I’m like, my season could be over. Then Thursday I’m like, I don't know if I’m going to be able to race this weekend. But I think maybe I skirted by the bad stuff. Friday I’m like, I think I might be okay to race. So, with that being said, I’ll see how it responds tomorrow. It’s a little bit sore now getting done with the day. I got a couple Toradol shots, and I was taped up, but now that that’s wearing off, it’s sore. So, I’ll see how it recovers the next couple days. But the way it responded those first couple days was pretty quick, so I’m hoping it goes quick and I’ll be hopefully good next weekend and not have to worry about it.
