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MITCHELL HARRISON
250 MX / 3RD
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> After barely being able to crack the top fteen overall after returning from injury at High Point earlier this season, Mitchell Harrison has slowly been grinding to get back towards the front. He has shown ashes and has had a few solid top ten performances in some motos but hasn’t had two in one week- end. This means his best overall nish this year is only ninth which he earned at Southwick thanks to
a very impressive come from behind sixth place nish in the second moto. He had a similar ride at our last round at Washougal where he ran near the front in moto two and nished seventh. He entered Unadilla hoping to carry that momentum. Harrison’s pair of morning qualifying practice sessions were
a bit of a struggle. He sat with the thirteenth fastest lap time after session one and again struggled in session two once the rain started falling. He would have to make the proper adjustments in order to come out swinging for the motos. Harrison jumpstarted his day by ripping a healthy holeshot in moto number one. He rounded lap one in third position and started to settle in. His pace was on point with the top group and he didn’t waver. He did a great job keeping the series points leader, Aaron Plessinger for much of the moto. However, on lap ve, a mistake by Harrison would allow Plessinger by but he re- mained in third because his teammate, Michael Mosiman, fell on that same lap while leading. Harrison continued riding strong in third for nearly the rest of the race until Shane McElrath came charging to him with a few laps to go. McElrath was in the midst of a serious surge forward and passed Harrison with
a lap and a half to go. This sent Harrison back to fourth where he would hold on to nish. Despite the late pass, the fourth place was still his best nish of the year and he would look to make it two strong motos on the day when he lined it up for moto two. Once again, Harrison pulled a great start to kick off the moto. The Rockstar Husqvarna rider emerged from lap one in third position. He stayed there during lap two but then made a pass on race one winner, Dylan Ferrandis, on lap three to take over second place. This was a statement move and he actually started to pull away a tad from him. Harrison was logging steady laps while trying to catch race leader, Cameron McAdoo. He pulled up to him on lap
ve and made the move. He made it quickly because Ferrandis had started to close back up and apply pressure and he was bringing Plessinger with him. Now in the lead, Harrison was in uncharted territory. He has never won a moto in Lucas Oil Pro Motocross and this was his best chance since he nearly won at Red Bud last year. Ferrandis kept showing him a wheel in the latter half of the moto but Harrison had a counter for every move. With just a few laps left, it appeared he might be able to hold on, but a lapper stumbled and bumped him on lap ten forcing Harrison to tip over. He would lose three spots, dropping back to fourth before remounting. He was able to nish the moto there and go 4-4 on the day. I expected him to be disappointed with how that moto went during his podium interview but his joy for nishing third overall outweighed that potential disappointment. Harrison is certainly coming on strong as of late nishing 7-4-4 in his last three motos. Look for more top ves from him at our last two rounds.
14 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 12, 2018