• Sports

Dennison dirt bike racer competes

• November 2, 2023
• 3081

Dennison’s Madison Harmon participated in the final round of the 2023 Progressive Grand National Cross Country Series presented by Specialized, an AMA National Championship, on Oct. 21 at Crawfordsville, Indiana for the Ironman Race.

This concluded her 2023 season, finishing in the third-place position for the National Championship in the Girls Supermini Class.

The 15-year-old dirt bike racer lined up at 4 p.m. on Saturday alongside 300 fellow youth riders for the 1 1/2 hour race. The GNCC races lead as many as 2,800 riders through race tracks ranging in length from 5-12 miles. With varied terrain including hills, woods, mud, dirt, rocks and motocross sections, GNCC events are tests of both survival and speed.

Harmon, who attends Claymont High School in the 10th grade, has been riding since she was 11 years old. She also has earned consecutive 2022 and 2023 championship wins in EROC and AWRCS.

With the help of sponsors such as Wossner Pistons, AES, Wood Electric, Brotherhood HVAC, P3 Carbon, FXR Moto, Dunlop, Dickerhoof’s Garage, Flickinger Piping, TLB Woodworks, Towpath Tavern, Lee’s Famous Recipe in New Philadelphia, East Side Drive Thru, Bullseye Pheasant, Barbell’s Gym and Brian Bonifay, who helped pave the way to the races, Harmon has had the opportunity to pursue her dreams.

She has won 33 races in the last four years and competes nearly every weekend in the GNCC, AWRCS and EROC series. Her parents, Dustin and Chelsey Legg, have dedicated their evenings and every weekend to helping Harmon achieve her goals.

The offseason consists of indoor training multiple nights per week, bike maintenance and physical preparation for the following season, which will begin in February in South Carolina.

In addition to Harmon, two other female Claymont High School students earned top 10 in the Girls Super Mini Championship. Jalee Coen got fourth place, and Josslynn Lillie claimed fifth place.