VOL. 54 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 19, 2017 P129
someone to call. It turned out that
first call had nothing to do with
road racing, but dirt track. In 2015,
Steve McLaughlin was looking
for some international riders to
come race his Superprestigio of
the Americas in Las Vegas and
Elias jumped on it. Taking that leap
(even though he was still new to
dirt track) turned out to be the best
decision the Spaniard made in his
career. McLaughlin turned out to
be the catalyst. He got another
call in 2016 for a ride that was a
match made in heaven for Elias—
a fill-in ride at one of America's
most well-known superbike teams,
Yoshimura Suzuki.
"I arrived here with an amaz-
ing situation because that was
exactly what I wanted my entire
career: to have an official bike,
official team," Elias said. "When I
was at home and thinking, being
critical of all my mistakes, I was
like, 'restart and win in COTA.'
Then I continued with the team
and they give me a good situa-
tion, and I started to do better
and better. It has been amazing."
Elias' reversal of fortune in just
two-years' time, was something
that was still taking a bit of time
to soak in for the former world
champion in light of all that he
had been through.
Elias reinvigorated his fiercely
competitive nature once he got
back to winning.
