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MITCHELL HARRISON
250 SX / 8TH
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / WILSON
>> Mitchell Harrison has shown flashes of brilliance at times during his 2017 East Coast series campaign. The Star Racing Yamaha rider from Michigan has raised some eyebrows with some good showings early in heat races and main events this year but he has struggled with finishing them strong. Despite those struggles, he is still enjoying a much more favorable season to this point than his rookie season a year ago. This time around his speed is there, he just needs to find ways to consistently get good starts and hold on to the finish.
Harrison looked fast to get things going in Indianapolis. He qualified with the seventh best lap time and aimed to showcase that speed under the lights during the night show.
The second-year rider sprung out of the gate in his heat race and took the early lead over title contenders Osborne and Savatgy. He threw down two very quick laps building up small cushion over points leader Zach Osborne. But all that hard work vanished when Osborne came soaring into a corner after quadding after the finish line and took the lead away. Harrison stayed strong and hung with him all the way to the checkered flag. It was a fine performance from Harrison as he proved what he could do with a great start.
Unfortunately, in the main event, Harrison could not repeat another holeshot and rounded lap one back in ninth. He passed Dakota Alix to move into eighth and settled in the position. After several laps he picked up a spot due to his teammate Dylan Ferrandis going down but he remounted right behind him. Ferrandis hung behind him through the latter stages of the race before Harrison could no longer fend him off and the Frenchman maneuvered by. Back in eighth, Harrison would keep it steady and finish in that spot. It was his most consistent race and first top ten finish of the year so he must be happy about that. Next weekend is his home race in Detroit so look for the young gun to carry in this momentum and come in swinging.
54 GRITMOTO • MARCH 19, 2017