2018 Muddy Creek National Motocross 250 Class Photo Finish

Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/KTM's Shane McElrath claimed his first-ever overall victory in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship at round 5 of the 2018 season held at Muddy Creek Raceway in Blountville, Tennessee, this past weekend. The South Carolina native's 3-2 moto finishes put him on the top step of the overall podium.

“I don’t know what to say,” McElrath said. “That was my best ride ever. It was nice to start out with a podium this morning and keep it going. We’ve been working so hard to get the bike dialed in and it’s crazy the difference it makes when everything is working well.”

Monster Energy/Yamalube/Star/Yamaha Racing’s Dylan Ferrandis made the best of a challenging start to the day as he fought back from an 11th-place finish in moto 1 to capture the moto 2 win and take home second overall for the day.

"I was looking forward to fight for the podium all day," Ferrandis said. "The first moto was terrible. I had a bad start and crashed [on the] second lap, so I was way back and I had to push really hard to come back [to the] front. I never think about doing a podium today with 11th in [the] first moto, but [in the] second moto, I got a good start. It took a good start and a big fight with Alex Martin all moto. I put a lot of pressure on him, [and] he didn't give up, and me too. He made a small mistake [which] allowed me to win the moto. [I'm] very happy."

Geico Honda’s Chase Sexton celebrated his first career 250MX podium finish of third overall with 8-4 results. Sexton is ranked ninth in the point standings after five rounds of racing.

“I actually had really bad starts today,” Sexton said. “I started outside the top 10 both motos, so I was pretty bummed on that. But I was excited with my first lap. I made a lot of passes. I think I was in third for most of the second moto. I actually saw Dylan [Ferrandis] and Alex [Martin] in front of me. I started catching them a little bit. I had no idea Shane [McElrath] was behind me. He came out of nowhere and blew by me, and then from there on, it was pretty much it. These guys rode good. The track was pretty good. It was a little tough to pass, but it was fun. I’m happy to get my first podium. It wasn’t the moto scores that I like to have, but third is third, so it’s been good.”