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MITCHELL HARRISON
250 MX / 14TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / TILLS
>> Mitchell Harrison’s 2017 outdoor season has exceeded expectations of the average fan. After a subpar supercross season, Harrison has come out swinging here outdoors. He had some great starts and great rides early in the season but still struggled just a bit with his endurance and consistency. However, despite that, he still managed to finish
in the top ten at every round. Then something really clicked at his hometown race at Red Bud. He finished fourth overall and nearly won the second moto losing the lead
to Osborne with two laps left. His endurance had reached the top level and his results reflected that the following week at Southwick with a seventh overall. After his two best finishes of his career, he looked to keep the hot streak going at Millville. Harrison looked solid in qualifying practice as he threw down the tenth fastest lap time. His Yamalube Rockstar Star Racing machine looked ready to go as they lined the bikes up for moto number one. Known for his good starts, Harrison uncharacteristically did not get one
in the first moto. He came out of the first lap buried in nineteenth position. Out of his element a bit, he struggled to move forward in the opening laps and then lost all the progress he made by crashing back to nineteenth where he started the race. That small crash must have made him lock in because after that he engaged in a solid, smooth charge to the front. He crept up to sixteenth midway and continued going forward. He picked off several riders during the second half of the race including Geico Honda’s Chase Sexton on the final lap to finish in eleventh place. A solid finish considering his start to the moto but he wanted to return to the top ten in moto two. Harrison got a much better start in the second moto coming out in tenth place. But he immediately gave up the perks of the good start as he had big bobble that sent him back to fifteenth on lap two. He moved up to twelfth midway and did not stop there. He slid into ninth with just a few laps to go but disaster struck when the two-lap board came out. Harrison would go down and remount way back in seventeenth. That is where he would end up finishing the moto making it 11-17 scores on the day for fourteenth overall. A huge bummer after climbing up to ninth in the second moto. This marks his worst finish of the year and his only finish outside the top ten. Look for him to rebound in a big way next weekend at Washougal.
86 GRITMOTO • JULY 23, 2017