Grant Harlan has been on a roll as of late. The Rock River Yamaha rider has been making main events straight out of the heats and getting better every weekend. This weekend in Seattle, Harlan logged his best 450SX finish ever with a 13th. Ever the competitor, he does not seem content, and has his eyes set on more.
Racer X: Career best 13th. Just take me through your night.
Grant Harlan: Honestly, pretty rough. The track was gnarly, as everyone knows. Started okay, like 15th-ish. Going backwards. Couldn’t figure the track out. Even in the heat race, I got a really good start in that, which was awesome. Moved backwards. Just couldn’t figure the lines out. The triples were difficult. The whoops were tricky. About halfway I started figuring it out. Got the three in into the whoops. Was getting that good. I honestly started getting the rhythms better, which I was surprised about because they were getting tougher. Stoked with my riding after halfway, but we need to work on those opening laps.
Go back to that heat race for me because you started up front. How much different is that to almost slow the heart rate down and be like, "We’re okay here?"
It was nice to do it last week because I wasn’t as worried this week, but it was nice. I clearly needed it with how I was riding the track. So, we’ll take them when we get them.
These results obviously have been slowly getting better and better. Do you feel like you’re just sniffing that top ten and it’s right around the corner for you? Yeah. I think if my opening laps were a little bit better and I don’t lose those guys from 10 to 12, I think I can definitely get them at the end or just stay in front of them. We’ll keep getting better. We have a break coming up, which is nice. Maybe see if we can get the bike a little bit better. Just get the laps in and keep improving.
