VOLUME 57 ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 4, 2020 P59
NO GO FOR REED
After four rounds of making the
main event through the LCQ,
moving the total number of
450SX main events in his career
to 253, Mountain Motorsports/
cbdMD Honda's Chad Reed's
"One Last Ride" has been put on
hiatus as he attempts to recover
from a rib injury suffered in a
crash last week in Arizona. His
return to action, at this time, is
unknown, but he rode during
opening ceremonies in street
clothes and will likely continue
doing so in the meantime.
THE BLUES
In the second 450SX heat race,
round-one winner Justin Barcia's
Yamaha YZ450F started puffing
blue smoke before it gave up on
him with a lap left in the race.
The team took the motorcycle
back and swapped the engine
out quickly to put Barcia into
the LCQ, which he won. "My
guys killed it," Barcia said. "They
swapped the engine in like 15
minutes. It can be a little stress-
ful, but I had a game plan today,
and I stuck to it, and it worked
out just fine. Luckily, I have some
really good guys that can swap
an engine fast."
NOT DOWN WITH
THE SICKNESS
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's
Zach Osborne started the Oak-
land 450SX main event inside
the top five but about a third of
the way into the race, he started
going backward. He thinks he
may still be suffering the effects
of the illness that hampered him
at the beginning of the year. "I
was fifth for maybe 7-8 minutes,
but I'm not sure that I've fully
recovered from the sickness I
had at A1," Osborne said. "I'm
not totally positive, but I'm going
to try and get it figured out this
week. I think it's just about my
recovery. I ran a fever for a total
of seven days and the highest
was 103.8, so I think it might've
taken a bit more out of me than
I thought, and we'll get it figured
out. My speed's close, but I have
some things to work out."
TOUGH YEAR SO FAR
There were high expectations for
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's
Michael Mosiman at the start of
the year, but the 250SX racer
has struggled more than most
Briefly...
cont. on pg 63
