Over the first six rounds, Rockstar Energy / Husqvarna’s Michael Mosiman has been a solid top ten guy in the 250SX Western Regional Championship but hovering around 10th is not going to keep the second-year pro on a factory bike. While the Husky team has been known for recognizing talent and having patience when the potential is there, Michael has not quite shown that elite speed teams want to see. Michael is a smart kid and definitely understands where he is at and with his second professional SX season winding down, showing that potential they want to see has got to be his #1 goal. I think we may have finally seen a flash of that in Seattle.
After the first qualifying session, Michael having a breakout ride was the last thing I thought we would see. Heck, there was a whole qualifying session where I wasn’t sure he would survive. In the first qualifying session, the #36 looked completely mindf*&cked by the long big rocky and slick Seattle whoop section. He crashed twice in the whoops—one time really bad where he was down for a while—and he also crashed once in the turn before the whoops while likely thinking of them. It was painful to watch, so I couldn’t imagine how he felt. Between the two qualifying sessions, though, he got his head right and looked like a new rider in session two.
In the Seattle main event, he came around the first turn in 3rd, dropped back to 5th and settled into a solid 4th after winning an aggressive battle with Jacob Hayes. About midway through the main event, it looked like Michael might make a run at Jimmy Decotis and his first podium, but he settled for crossing the line a second behind the #64 with a career-high 4th place finish.
After Michael’s eye-opening Seattle SX, I caught up with him to talk about how the day started, how his night ended and what it all might mean moving forward.
Click play to hear from Michael Mosiman.
Michael Mosiman Interview / 03-2019
Photos by: Simon Cudby
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