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JOSH OSBY
250 SX / 6TH
IMAGE / KILPATRICK WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Josh Osby has been quite the enigma here in the 2018 250SX East Coast Championship series. The rider hailing from Valparaiso, Indiana has shown some brief ashes of speed throughout his rook- ie Supercross season. He has been getting a lot of exposure throughout the year but for a lot of the wrong reasons. He initiated the insane rst turn pile up at the season opener in Arlington and has had his fair share of highlight reel crashes and mistakes since then, but he really seems to be settling in as of late. He has been very inconsistent but last weekend at the Triple Crown in Minneapolis, he broke out in a big way. He nished an incredibly impressive sixth place overall and that is over the course of three main events. He proved that he can be fast and consistent if he can just keep it on two wheels. He looked to keep those good vibes rocking this weekend at the penultimate round in Foxboro.
Osby put forth a decent qualifying performance in the pair of timed practices to kick off the day. He nished with the eleventh quickest time but knew he could go even quicker. While preparing for the af- ternoon of racing, he made the proper adjustments and looked forward to having success in the races.
Osby got his heat race started with an average start, coming around the rst lap in sixth place. The ClubMX/RSR/Redemption Racing rider looked solid up there but on lap three he made some bobbles and bounced back to ninth. He maintained his composure and picked off Kyle Peters, Lorenzo Locur- cio, and Vann Martin over the next few laps to reclaim sixth position. He would nish the race in that spot. Once again, he showed how he has matured since the beginning of the year and not panicking and getting sketchy when things begin to get shaky. He was looking good for another main event performance.
Osby kicked off the main event with another nice start. This time he cleared the rst lap chaos and sat in fth place when they secured the green ag. From that point on, Osby wrote maybe the smoothest, most consistent race of his career. He kept things close with Peters and Cantrell who were ahead of him and maintained a gap on the riders behind him. He hit his marks every lap and looked to have his rst top ve of his career until late in the race Jeremy Martin came ying by after suffering from a rst lap crash. This happened with three laps to go and Osby would easily hold on to that sixth-place posi- tion on his way to the checkered ag. He backed up his great performance last weekend, matching the overall nish and showing everyone that he can be a force in the 250 class. He’ll have one more opportunity to turn heads at the nale in Las Vegas.
42 GRITMOTO • APRIL 22, 2018