Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne has gone through a lot to get to where he is right now.
Building off of his success during this year’s supercross series, which saw Osborne win his first-ever 250cc Supercross main event–followed by three more– and then culminated with one of the most amazing single races in the history of the sport at the Las Vegas Supercross to win the 250cc Eastern Regional Supercross Championship, Osborne went out at last weekend’s Red Bull Hangtown Motocross Classsic and won both motos in convincing fashion. Osborne had only ever won one AMA National overall before, and had only been on the podium one other time prior to Hangtown, but he went out and collected another “first,” with this one being his first 1-1 performance. We caught up with him after the race to get his take on it.
Steve Cox: How much does it help being able to carry momentum from supercross the way that you seem to have been able to do?
Zach Osborne: More than I realized! I mean, coming in to the weekend, I guess I just feel a lot less pressure right now just from a career standpoint, after winning a championship and kind of making it over the hump from an 11-year climb, if you want to call it that. It definitely brought me to a new level today, and obviously I’ve never gone 1-1, and I’ve never been fastest in both qualifying sessions… It was a pretty amazing deal today. It’s something I can’t really explain.
Steve Cox: And you won the first moto… A lot of people say the biggest key to getting a good start is believing you belong up front…
Zach Osborne: My dad always used to tell me, “The key to getting a good start is wanting a good start.” I want to get a good start, even if I don’t get one… But today, it was just one of those things where your mindset puts you where you think you’re going to be, if that makes sense. It’s one of those deals. It’s like a phenomenon. It’s nice to come out here, have momentum, and not lose it. To have it continue on. Even if I would’ve just been on the podium today, I feel like it would’ve continued, but to go 1-1 and kind of do it going away was just an awesome feeling.
Steve Cox: Is this a track you normally get along with?
Zach Osborne: I mean… Last year, I went 20-4, so… We were shooting for top-five today! We were going to be like, “We just won!” if we got a top-five! So, to go 1-1, like I said, it’s crazy.
Steve Cox: I know obviously this is way too early to be counting points, but considering the finishes of the guys who got second and third overall behind you, you have to have a pretty decent points lead already, don’t you?
Zach Osborne: Just doing the math in my head, it’s like 12 or 14 points already? So, that’s a solid little thing to sleep on, that’s for sure. We can go home and be proud of the weekend. I mean, to start it this way, it’s a long summer, and especially after my supercross thing, there were like five days there where I could barely function because I was so emotionally drained from the experience. I didn’t even go out on Saturday night in Vegas. I was just so drained from all the stress and pressure and emotions, and as you saw when I crossed the finish line, I broke down because it meant that much to me, and it was just that tough. I rode my heart out. It’s a long summer, and to come in and get a win right off the bat and carry some momentum out of supercross and into this, and through the series, it makes it a lot easier, that’s for sure.
Steve Cox: With that performance in Vegas, and others where you also had to come from so far back, do you feel like you found something else inside yourself that you didn’t know you had before?
Zach Osborne: No… It’s always been there. I’ve always had good rides, and people I think know that I have heart, but it’s just that my riding this year with the guys at the Baker’s Factory has been such “next level”… Even today I felt like it was easier than what I would have on a Tuesday when I’m riding with Marvin [Musquin] and Jason [Anderson] and they’re on 450s, and I’m just slugging away three seconds a lap slower than them… It’s just like, “What the heck can I do with these guys?” It’s hard to go there and be disciplined enough to be okay with that. But days like today make me realize that those hard days of taking my knocks? This makes that worthwhile.
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