Very few people like mud races, but they are somewhat of an equalizer and provide an opportunity for riders to achieve impressive numbers. That was certainly the case with Shane McElrath, who used the slop to his advantage to run as high as third and eventually earn fourth place, his best career 450SX result. McElrath isn’t known as being a mud specialist, but in San Francisco, his radar cross section for mud races got a whole lot bigger! We caught up with him afterward to get his thoughts on the night.
The content here consists of two separate interviews conducted by Aaron Hansel and Kellen Brauer.
Racer X: Great race tonight! Take us through it.
Shane McElrath: It was a tough track all day today. We ended up just having one practice, and I didn’t think it was going to be as bad as it was. I didn’t set my bike up at all for the mud. It was how it was, as if we would ride it if it were dry. Then I struggled pretty bad in the first practice. Thankfully I had an okay time in that one because they ended up cancelling the second one. We made some big changes after that. I was pretty good in the heat race. I went down on the first lap. Barcia kind of stood it up in a corner and I was on the other side of him. When I cut down I just clipped his wheel and fell over. I got up super quick and tried to get going, and qualified straight out of the heat, which was good. In those conditions, it’s really tough.
In the main I knew I had to get a good start, and I actually did get a pretty good start. With the start how it was, it was hard to turn going across the start straight with how muddy it was, and with the holeshot button holding the front down. I was kind of surprised how I came out, but at that point it was just trying not to fall and trying not to stall. The ruts were really tricky, especially in the last three or four laps. It was so tough. There weren’t many lines that we could take, and they were footpeg deep. I was pretty excited to just stay where I was, and to stay clean for the most part. I ended up with fourth, which is my best 450SX finish, so it’s a good night.
Yeah, you’ve been really good in the mud the last few mud races you’ve been in. I could be wrong, but you don’t have a reputation for being good in the mud. Are you a lowkey, under-the-radar, good mud guy?
I grew up riding in the mud. It’s pretty comfortable for me. I’m just not, I guess, out there like that. When it’s a mud race you automatically think of other people, and that’s fine. But I can ride the mud pretty good. A lot of it is mentality. A lot can happen, and you have to be okay with that. I got fourth tonight, and could have just as easily gotten last, or not even qualified.
You were running third for a while too.
Yeah.
How much worse was the track in the main than the heat? The rain really started pounding later in the night.
It was misting all throughout the heat but it wasn’t bad. I don’t think it was doing much to wet the dirt. I think, if we’d of had that rain steady all night, come main event time, we would have just been sloshing around. But the mud all day, it was just so sticky. It wasn’t actually wet enough to actually flatten out.
Yeah, it was that, rip-your-boot-off-your-foot mud.
Yes. That’s what was really tough. Even at the bottom of some of the ruts, the dirt was still fairly dry. So all that gets kicked up and mixed in with all the dirt around it, and you have to stay in that or else you don’t know where your bike is going to go because it’s so sticky.
Where does tonight rank, in terms of other mud races you’ve been in?
I tell people Seattle in 2018, that was one of the hardest ones I’ve done. This [San Francisco] is a close second, on par with that. Riding all day in the mud, and the track not really being able to have equipment on it, there wasn’t much they could do. You almost know exactly what you’re getting when you go out there, and it doesn’t get any easier every lap.
So you get a start. Did you kind of like mentally say like, all right, I'm going with these guys so I can get in their pace, get in their groove a little bit because you stuck with the lead group for quite a while too.
Yeah, honestly, it's, it's about just trying to keep your momentum up. I think I was behind Tomac more than anybody. Like I didn't want to follow him, but I just kept it up right behind him. And dude, I would get like blasted with roost and I'm like, it's “It's a gamble to like reach up and pull a tear off or pull your roll off.” So I'm just like, I I hit and, hope it was good. Staying clean for the most part, that plays such a big role in it. Like not having to force the issue. I think a couple of the guys were pushing me at the end, but it's like, okay, I'm good in this section and other place you’re gonna let it hang out a little bit, but you gotta be careful because it, it can, it can go either way. I'm pumped to get a good result and just keep building like it. Like I said, it's early in the season and I'm excited.
Once Kenny got by you. You're in fourth. Did you kind of like, look back ever and see like how big the gap was behind you and meter that at all or were you just trying to follow Kenny or?
You don't have much time to think about anything when it's like that. So, um, honestly, I thought I'd got to third at one point. Well, I, I was in third but then Kenny passed me and I could have swore Ken had like, stalled it or fell, but I guess it was one of the other guys in the Foxx gear because it literally looked like Ken because he got up right in front of me. And I, I was like, no, I'm passing this person but then I came over the finish and Ken was there. I'm like, huh? That's weird. In the end, it wasn't Ken and I'm like, dang I, I could have been third but, I mean, I was forcing it as much as I could force it without too big of mistakes. Some of the other guys, if they were going a lot faster, than it's like, cool, I made it to the end. That's, that's what I'm happy about.
