Photos and Interview by: Chase Yocom
While Rockstar Energy / Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne has had the red plate behind the #1e for all of the 2018 Eastern Regional 250SX Championship, he has not been quite the dominant force we or even he probably expected. At last weekend’s Minneapolis SX “Triple Crown”, though, his speed in qualifying—a half second faster than any 250 or 450 rider—reminded everyone why we expected him to dominate.
Zach’s Achille’s heel in 2018 has been his starts, and that issue continued to hold him back in Minneapolis. In the first two motos of the “Triple Crown,” Zach rounded the first turn outside the top ten, but some crafty first-lap moves helped him quickly make up for it and finish the motos in 4th and 1st. In moto three, starts were not the issue; Jeremy Martin was. Zach had the start and the lead right in front of him, but J. Mart passed him and stole the moto win and, with that, the overall win as well.
With a 4-1-2 moto score, Zach took home second overall, and with Austin Forkner crashing and breaking his collarbone, Zach stretched his points lead to 12 points over Jordon Smith and 16 points over Martin—the only two riders left with a chance at dethroning Osborne.
After the “Triple Crown” was in the books, Chase Yocom talked to Zach about his night in Minneapolis .
Zach, second on the night in Minneapolis. With your Championship mindset, it’s not exactly where you want to be—you want to be winning—but you still gained a couple points on your rivals. You gotta be happy about that. Can you take us through your day?
Today was pretty good. During day show [qualifying], I had the fastest lap time of any 250 or 450, which was a pretty big accomplishment. Going into the night show I felt confident, just messed up my start in the first one and was really frustrated. I managed to get the second main event win and 2nd in the last one that gave me 2nd overall. Good day for my Championship and me in general.
What happened in the third moto? I couldn’t quite see it, but i think it was maybe right after the whoops by the mechanics area. It looked like you got caught up there and maybe got passed by a couple of guys?
Yeah, I don’t even really know myself but I definitely got passed by two guys, J. Mart and Smith. Then Smith ended up going down besides me in the first turn, and I knew I needed to push hard to get up to J. Mart. I finally caught up to him and some lappers took it away from me. It’s kind of unfortunate, but at the same time I’m happy with the way I’m riding and my position for the Championship.
Speaking of the lappers, we’re hearing a lot about the track being one-lined. What are your thoughts about it. Is that pretty consistent?
It was pretty one-liney. Also, it has to be somewhat one-liney to be safe for three main events when it deteriorates the way it does after so many laps on it. I understand both sides. It is what it is. Atlanta was maybe too gnarly for what the “Triple Crown” brings. I never really fault the track builders, though, just because they have a lot to deal with.
You’re a little bit older and probably have a little bit better perspective on it, but it’s probably better to be safer. Even if it’s one-lined—it might not make the racing good—the main goal is to get the riders of here safe.
Right, I think that’s something they have to think about each week. Especially with this triple crown deal. Like I said, with the track breaking down and stuff.
What did you think of the split lanes. You were talking about it in the press conference how they changed one of them before one of the mains?
Before the last main, we were using the inside after the triple on the one side, and before the last main they built a roller on the inside which was the line we were using. It was strange to go out there and use a completely different line for the third main event. Yeah, it is what it is.
How stoked are you to get back to Florida and out of this blizzard? (laughs)
If we get there. Dang, it’s going to be Monday or Tuesday at this rate. (laughs)
