McElrath got the night off to a decent start with a second-place finish in his Heat but the Main Event, didn’t go as smoothly. The North Carolinian locked bars with the competition going into the first turn creating a small technical issue that made for a challenging race. He was still in the fight, though in third place. A few laps later he was able to pass his championship rival right before the tabletop, but lost the position in the sand shortly after. He kept fighting but ultimately third was the best result on the day in the challenging conditions and a good result for the title fight.
The Monster Energy Star Yamaha Racing rider leaves Atlanta second in the standings, trailing by five points. Next up is Round 10 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross season at the iconic Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Saturday, March 7.
It was a good result on a tough night. I think Shane struggled to find his rhythm by not sticking the pass on Chase (Sexton) earlier in the race. We have got to improve on our weaknesses. We’ll get to work this week and come back in Daytona fighting for the win.
I felt really good during the day, even in the Heat race. We made a few bike changes for the Main that we thought was going to be good, which was kind of my call. I was struggling with the track quite a bit, but I’m learning a lot. It was tough to get third. I felt like I should have been able to win, but I was struggling with a lot of things. So we’ll work on
