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MITCHELL HARRISON
250 MX / 10TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Mitchell Harrison has slowly gotten better and better at each round of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross series after making his season debut at High Point after returning from injury. The Factory Rockstar Husqvarna rider struggled initially at the rst two rounds he raced but he
was essentially riding himself into shape. At his third race the season at Southwick, he broke through of sorts and nished the day ninth overall after a very impressive come from behind sixth place nish in the second moto. This carried over into the next two rounds at Red Bud and Millville where he nished tenth and eleventh overall respectively. His speed and two- moto consistency has been there, he has just struggled with getting consistently good starts. He would aim to change that this weekend at Washougal. Harrison did not have the strongest of showings in the morning qualifying practice sessions, but it was nothing to be alarmed by. He nished them with the thirteenth fastest lap time and with this class so close in speed and talent, he knew he could ght up there and run with anyone. He was ready to have a good pair of motos. Harrison nailed a good start in the rst moto. He rounded lap one in sixth position and held it on lockdown for the rst two and a half laps. Then on lap three, he would go down in a tough spot and get passed by a plethora of riders. By the time he got back going, he was in twentieth place. He had to ght tooth and nail for every spot on his journey back towards the front. By the halfway point, he was up to sixteenth place. He had passed four riders and he would pass that same number of riders in the second half of the moto. He held thirteenth down late in the moto but put together one last charge to pass Sean Cantrell for twelfth with two laps remaining. He would nish right there in twelfth which had to be disappointing after he nally nailed a good start. He’d look to try and nail another one, but this time keep it on two wheels. Harrison did his job and nailed another nice start in moto two. This one was even better, and he came out of lap one in fth. RJ Hampshire would bounce him back to sixth on lap two, but he would lock the spot down. He was feeling the heat from Alex Martin but did not waver. He continued to hold him off into the second moto, but Martin nally found some space to make
a pass on him. This sent Harrison to seventh, but he had no worries from behind as he was a good eight to ten seconds ahead of Justin Cooper who was in eighth. Harrison would nish the moto by logging solid laps and holding down that seventh-place spot. His 12-7 moto scores earned him tenth overall making it his third top ten in the last four races. He rode well in both motos but has to be kicking himself knowing he could have placed much better if not for that crash in moto one. Nonetheless, he will take it and carry that second moto momentum into the weekend off.
32 GRITMOTO • JULY 29, 2018