race recap
MITCHELL HARRISON | GRIT-209 | 250SX
February 20, 2023 · Mitchell Harrison
MITCHELL HARRISON | GRIT-209 | SX 250
With the 2023 250cc West Coast SX championship resuming this weekend, Mitchell Harrison appeared excited and full of motivation as festivities were set to begin in RingCentral Coliseum. With a slight hiatus from racing action (due to the East Coast championship intervening), the absence of competition would ignite a fire within to display his highest aptitude(s) while stationed in Oakland. This circuit had an abundance of corners with varying degrees of angle, seemingly causing riders to constantly adjust and sway as they completed obstacles of all sizes. The layout would demand technicality from the riders repertoire of skills, which played into the favor of Michigan's Harrison, as he carved a transferring bid throughout the laps of the afternoon. His mentality translated into the heat race as well, where an unleashing of power was presented as his rear wheel spun from the grate beneath his chassis. His right elbow would be perpendicular to the ground beneath him, all the while up-shifting with the muscles of his left food prior to diving into the first corner. Immediately, he and Australia's Matt Moss were latching onto one another while simultaneously leaping sixty-(plus) feet through the second jump of the opening rhythm section. The track was in pristine condition, with moisture providing the ability for his chassis to sway and lean amongst berms that were housing slight grooves. His line before the whoops would be superb, where a transition from sitting would be enacted all the while upshifting (twice) to fourth gear prior to decimating the moguls that followed. The fluidity that he possessed in the middle portion of the moto would reap large dividends in the final minute (or so) of action...generating a score of fifth prior to the main event beginning. Once here, twenty-two athletes would converge into a chute that forced many to withdraw from their aspirations (via application to the rear brake pedal), though he wouldn't oblige and proceeded to drive just a few feet further than the majority of his counterparts. His vision would capture the slightest of windows and pockets to pass opponents amid smooth lines; which was evident in the chicane (of one-eighty degree berms) to the left of the finish-line section. Managing to nullify mistakes including foot-dabbing, and front-end washing, there was a moment in time (around the eighth lap) where a top-ten residency seemed definitive and sustainable. Through the grueling process of the latter stages of the moto (where many withered with fatigue) he doubled-down and pressed forward with even further aggression...claiming tenth overall before exiting the raceway, for good.