Anticipating quite the battle prior to embarking onto the raceway of Colorado, Manluk Rock River Racing’s Grant Harlan felt extremely prepared prior to shifting the transmission of his Yamaha and engaging in a multitude of strong laps for qualification. There were numerous pockets of mud that were littered around the circuit, which forced his center and upright riding style to be pushed a bit backward on the seat in order to gain traction. The rear wheel spin would be nullified as a result, which led to an admirable lap-time being garnered prior to advancing into the main event(s) that were in the hours thereafter. Harlan would then watch the pin of his gate collapse after the thirty-second board went sideways, immediately swaying to the right (as much as possible) amid a crowded first turn area. He would clear his vision as best as possible over the largest flyaway jump on the first lap, barreling to the inside in the next corner while dragging both front and rear brake(s). The surplus of revs were nearly deafening as he rolled into these trenches that filled the turns thereafter, almost clipping the inner-most track marker in order to negate the charge of Suzuki’s Marshal Weltin who was relentless with a series of surges while nearing the fourth and fifth laps of competition. All in the field would be seeking to match the pace of race leader, Jett Lawrence, but there was little that anyone could do to dethrone the Honda rider as minutes dwindled to expiration. Eventually though, he outlasted the charge of Weltin and Freddie Noren behind him (after passing Derek Drake, as well), leading to an eighth-place being garnered before heading into the following round of action. His near hole-shot accolade in the second moto was beyond spectacular, where he was on the cusp of passing Jett Lawrence in the first few corners while defending every other factory rider on the roster! Harlan’s resilience was at the forefront of conversation as he burst through ruts and sped to the highest extent down the hills of Thunder Valley. For multiple laps at a time, Grant was proving that his talent was of the highest level — and continued to pace the likes of Cooper Webb and Dylan Ferrandis, after being passed by those opponents, respectively. He remained a staple inside of the top seven, continuously clicking-off laps of prominence as this fifteen-lap quest would conclude. Ultimately finishing just behind Adam Cianciarulo, Harlan’s seventh-place standing in the final bout of the day would propel him forward to a well-deserved eighth-place overall in the record book!