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ZACHARY OSBORNE
250 MX / 2ND
IMAGE / LANNAN WORDS / ARMSTRONG DESIGN / TILLS
>> It was Eleven years ago when Zachary Osborne made his professional debut. Zach had a lot of eyes on him as he turned professional as a rider who could be the next big thing. All of the hype started to crumble when at this very race track (Budds Creek) eleven years ago Zach got out front and lead the rest of the field for 20 minutes. Right after the 20 minute mark was hit Osborne hit the wall of fatigue. He didn’t crash he didn’t have bike issues he just was so drained that he dropped all the way back to 18th before the checkered flag. For the next two years Osborne struggled to find his groove and he was left searching for options to continue racing. The Dixon Yamaha team out of the MXGP series gave Osborne a shot on their team, the results varied some where mediocre and some races went amazing. Five years ago Zach approached the team with his idea to go racing a first few rounds of Supercross in America. The team went on board with Zachs idea and they lined up for the first 5 rounds of the West Coast series in 2013. Osborne came in blazing and was a podium threat in all of the main events. This got the American teams interested in Osborne once again and in 2014 Zach was racing in America full time un- der the Geico Honda tent. His contract with Geico expired at the end of 2015 and in 2016 he was under the awning of Factory Rockstar Husqvarna. That year Zach showed lots of speed but mechanical failure left him out of any title hopes. Going into the 2017 season Osborne joined forces with Aldon Baker and upped his training immensely. Now eleven years after starting his professional career Zach is arguably the fastest man on a 250 machine in the world.
In race one at Budds Creek this weekend Zach was in the position to wrap up his 250 outdoor title a round early but a crash in the first turn put Osborne in a bad position. At the end of lap one Zach made up 16 positions and was in 24th. Around 8 minutes into the race Osborne just got himself into the top
20 and was getting points. All race long Zach was chasing rookie Chase Sexton (who also went down) around the circuit. The pair of them diced their way through the field to get inside of the top 10. Under 5 minutes remained and Sexton got hung up behind a laper on a inside corner while Zach blistered around the outside carrying more momentum towards the uphill triple before making the pass stick for 8th where he finished. Race two started off much better for the #16 as he was inside the top 5 off the gate and was quickly in 3rd place. Osborne made the pass on Jeremy Martin for second at the end of the opening lap. After ten minutes of trailing first place rider Shane McElrath Osborne started to make his move for the lead. Out of no where Zachs Rockstar Husky started to smoke and his mechanic Dave Feeney makes Osborne aware while stating “Easy Clutch” on his pit board, signifying that he believed the clutch was overheating. Zach backed off his pace a touch but stayed within sight of Shane. A few laps went by and the #16 ran out of tear-offs so he made the decision to push for the lead. Once Osborne overtook the lead the rest was history. Zach took the win and wrapped up the championship a week in advance. Ironic how the track that once took so much from Osborne also is the track where Zach won his 250 outdoor title.
34 GRITMOTO • AUGUST 20, 2017