Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing Team’s Zach Osborne took another step closer toward earning his first-career 450MX Championship on Saturday with a solid 4-2 performance for third overall at the penultimate round of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship in Lakewood, Colorado. With two motos remaining, Osborne heads into the final round with a 24-point lead in the highly-competitive 450MX championship battle.
In Moto 1, Osborne got off to a great start but his momentum was somewhat hindered from the beginning as he took the brunt of another rider smashing into him from behind in the second turn. He pushed through the pain and discomfort to maintain a top-three position for most of the race, where he ultimately finished fourth in the moto. In Moto 2, Osborne shot off the line to immediately inject himself into the lead battle on lap one. Eventually settling into third in the middle part of the race, Osborne made a late charge to put pressure on the second-place rider of Adam Cianciarulo, his biggest rival in the championship title fight. Osborne’s tenacity paid off when he was able to capitalize on a mistake by Cianciarulo to overtake second with four laps to go, thus picking up two additional points with a second-place finish in the moto.
“It was a decent weekend,” Osborne said. “I had some decent riding there in the second moto, I kind of found my feet a little bit and did some points racing today, so I feel good about my chances going into Pala next weekend. Our focus now is on this championship and wrapping it up, so that’s what we’re going to go there and do.”
450MX Rider Point Standings
1. Zach Osborne , 325 points
2. Adam Cianciarulo, 301 points
3. Marvin Musquin, 283 points