Page 74 - Issue_56

MITCHELL HARRISON
250 MX / 10TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / ARMSTRONG DESIGN / TILLS
>> I have to say that I am very impressed with how far Mitchell Harrison has come this year. Harrison was able to graduate out of the amateur ranks on one of the most sought after 250 professional teams (YamaLube Star Racing Yamaha). With that being said
a lot of pressure can be put on a riders shoulders to produce results. Harrison wasn’t able to put his mark on the sport in his years on the team but 2017 has been a different story. Both of his top teammates Cooper Webb and Jeremy Martin left the awning of Harrisons team and Mitchell has stepped up his game in hopes of filling their boots.
So far this outdoor season has 9 top ten finishes including a 2nd at Red Bud. That is leaps and bounds compared to 2016 where he only had 6 top ten finishes with his best being a 6th at the final moto of the year.
Race one at Washougal was another high moment for the #45’s career as he started inside of the top 5 and ran in 4th after the opening laps. Mitchell would start to feel the heat being poured on after the first 5 minutes from the Pro Circuit Kawasaki duo of Adam Cianciarulo and Joey Savatgy. After six minutes of holding of AC Harrison finally fell to the pressure and dropped back to 5th. After the midway point of the moto Harri- son made his move back to 4th around early front runner Sean Cantrell. Mitchell stayed in this position for the rest of the race until the whoop section just before the checkered flag when points leader Zach Osborne pushed Harrison to 5th place while crossing the finish line. You could tell that Harrison was frustrated with getting passed at the bitter end of the moto as he hung his head in shame while on his way back to the pits. That being said, it is still Mitchell’s second top 5 of his career so he should be pumped. Race #2 saw Harrison in 7th after the opening lap where he stayed for the first 7 minutes. Then he had to deal with the pressure of Osborne once again. This time Osborne was bringing Mitchells former teammate with him (Jeremy Martin), the two riders got by and Harrison was pushed to 9th. Harrison ran in 9th for the next 13 minutes until he had a tip over that dropped him to 16th. Mitchell was only able to get himself back to 15th by the finish.
74 GRITMOTO • JULY 31, 2017