Written by: Dan Lamb – Interview & photos by: Chase Yocom
Supercross and motocross are not the kind of sports that produce a lot of comeback stories, especially not at the level of Rockstar / Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne who has comeback from complete obscurity in the US to becoming a double champion in 2017. Zach turned pro way back in 2006. By 2008, he was considered an amateur superstar bust, and no top tier teams in America thought he had the potential needed for a decent development contract. Instead of letting other people define his worth, Zach bet on himself and took the best job he could find, boarding a plane to Europe to contest the MX2 World Championship.
Zach rose to the occasion in Europe, winning a GP MX2 overall in Turkey, scoring many MX2 podiums and adding the title British National MX Champion to his resume. Even with that, the Abingdon, Virginia native still had aspirations for success at home, so he returned to American SX in 2012 with his British-based Bike-It Cosworth / Yamaha team to race four SX races. Four main events and two podium finishes later, he was getting calls from the teams that had shunned him four years prior. When it was all said and done, Zach returned to the US full time on the factory GEICO / Honda team in 2013 and his second US career was officially underway.
Flashes of brilliance followed up with a myriad of injuries was the theme of Zach’s first few years back in the US. After a two-year injury-riddled stint with GEICO / Honda, Zach joined the Rockstar / Husqvarna team in 2015 and things really started to come together. He grabbed his first national win in 2016 and, during the offseason, added the last missing piece: trainer Aldon Baker and the riders at the Baker’s Factory in Clermont, Florida.
After spending a full offseason with Aldon training him and Ryan Dungey, Jason Anderson and Marvin Musquin pushing him, Zach showed up for the 2017 Monster Energy SX season with the full package. In 2017, Zach won his first ever 250SX main event, his first ever Regional 250SX Championship, and last weekend at Budds Creek, he capped off a dream year with the 2017 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross 250MX Championship. It has been an incredible journey to witness and cover, and after the champagne was sprayed, MotoXAddicts’ Chase Yocom caught up with a very excited Zach to talk about it.
Zach, 8-1 on the day and you got the job done with the Championship. What’s going through your mind right now. You won the Eastern Regional 250SX Supercross Championship and now the 250 AMA Motocross Championship. What a year.
It’s unreal. Like I said in the press conference, there were some personal challenges this season and things to overcome, but all in all, it’s been an incredible year and something that I’ve very much enjoyed. It’s a year that I’ll remember forever. It’s a dream season if there ever was such a thing.
 
Coming into Budds Creek, you have a history with it. It went from you getting the name “Snack Pack” here when you faded from 1st to 18th early in your career to you getting your first win here last year then clinching your first ever MX championship here today. Can we finally close the door on that whole ordeal? (laughs)
I hope so. It’s been a long time coming to come here and win a title and, last year, my first overall victory. It’s an amazing feeling and something that won’t kick in for a couple of days.
You didn’t make it easy on yourself, especially in that first moto with the crash in the first turn. What happened there?
That was tough. I had that gate picked out for a couple of weeks now if I could get it through qualifying. It was something that I felt really good about, but I got in a little melee there in the corner and was down with a couple of guys. That was that.
It was like, if you got the jump there, you were going to be good, but if you didn’t, you were potentially getting pinched.
I think in years past, they’ve maybe been one more gate to the right—where we line up—and it was just a little too far in there. I just got stuck inside and that was that.
In the second moto—I’m not sure if you knew it while you were racing—there was some smoke coming off your bike. It looked like it was your clutch.
I had no clue. Definitely sometimes when I’m not riding great and fluid, I smoke the clutch a little bit. It’s something we’ve dealt with a little bit this year. I didn’t know it, so I wasn’t really worried about it.
Next weekend, we head to Ironman and you’re staying on the 250. I heard you mention in the press conference that you were going to potentially race the 450 there if you had the title clinched and were racing the 450 at MXoN, so Ironman next weekend and then MXoN. You’re not doing the USGP, correct?
No, no USGP because I would have to race the 450 there [you have to be 23 or under to race MX], and I’m just not quite prepared. Next weekend at Indiana, I’ll hopefully ride with the #1 plate and maybe with my Team USA gear or something like that. That would be really cool. I’m looking forward to it, and I’ll try to get another win.
MXoN coming up. There was obviously the whole fiasco with some 450 guys turning down the invitation, but you’re a guy that’s super excited about this. What are your expectations for the race?
High! I think realistically we have a chance to win. I think if all the cards fall right, we can win. There have been plenty of teams… We are not a B team by any means. I’m a national champion and I feel like my chances are good against any 250 rider in the world. Not being cocky, but more or less just saying. I feel like we can go there and do some damage.
Yeah, I don’t think people realize that. Thomas Covington is over there right now—you have a ton of experience over there—and Cole Seely is the only one that really doesn’t have any GP experience. Having you two there to give him pointers will definitely help.
I believe Cole is going to be just fine. I think it was a good choice, and he’s a solid guy. He travels well. He went to Japan last year. I think his game will be on top form. For all three of us, it’s a dream, not a task, so we’re going to give it our best nonetheless.
Thanks for the time, Zach, and congratulations on the title. Good luck next weekend. Hopefully we’ll talk to you then, but if not, good luck at des Nations.
No problem. Thank you.
