WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 54 ISSUE 4 JANUARY 31, 2017 P55
was getting balked by lappers almost every lap. Hill
eventually took advantage and sprinted past to take
the lead with only two laps to go.
McElrath stayed close, but came up just a couple
seconds short at the finish.
"We overcame a lot of adversity today and I think
that's kind of what woke me up a little bit," McElrath
said. "I mean, it's a championship, and [I've] been
riding a little cautious. I'm ready to have that fire
again. I felt good the whole race. That should have
been mine. Just some of the lappers, you don't
really know where to go behind them. Some of the
sections you have to follow in because you won't
make the next jump. But Justin was right there the
whole time and he earned that one. I couldn't really
do much with that. [I'm] just thankful we're safe. I
went down in the heat race and my mechanic Andy,
our crew chief and everybody, they went back and
busted their butt to get the bike back together. It's
not over yet and we're still looking up. We're looking
forward to it."
Forkner took his first supercross podium of his
career in third. Yamalube Star Racing Yamaha's
Aaron Plessinger missed the podium for the first
time this season after starting well outside the top
10 and finishing fourth, despite setting the fastest
(Below) Justin Hill (46)
made a late-race pass
on Shane McElrath (38)
to take the 250SX
West main-event win.
(Right) Austin Forkner (24),
here battling with Martin
Davalos, got on the 250SX
podium for the first time.
