INTERVIEW
P68
ZACH OSBORNE
Christophe Pourcel's line choices helped the Pro Circuit guys,"
said GEICO Honda tech Kristian
Kibby. "We thought that would be
cool if we could get that kind of
thing going on our team."
"I can understand that," Osborne says. "But I don't really
have that flair. I'm more just a
bulldog. I'm definitely not the
smooth Pourcel type. If I could
pick anyone that I would want
to ride like, it would be Pourcel.
But I couldn't be anymore opposite than Pourcel. So, I'm sorry to
burst their bubble, but that's not
me... [Laughs]."
And outdoors, even though
Osborne rarely sniffed the ex-
haust of Ken Roczen or Marvin
Musquin in Europe, he has beaten them a few times already in
2013 outdoors, including the second moto at the track where he
had his vendetta, Budds Creek,
where he caught and passed
both Musquin and Roczen on his
way to fourth in the second moto.
"I came around the first lap in
12th, but I was further back than
that," Osborne says. "I think I was
maybe 15th or 17th, somewhere
in there. I think I was in ninth with
five laps to go. Then I passed
Seely, I think. I passed Ken [Roczen], Marvin [Musquin] and Wil
[Hahn] all in one lap. And that
was right at the finish.
Osborne isn't one-dimensional. He
loves off-road racing, too, and he's
headed to the ISDE.
"It's definitely gratifying for me,"
Osborne says. "I mean, to be behind those guys and gunning for
them every year and never really
be there to win Championships –
whether it be due to injuries, bike
failures, or whatever, I just never
was there. And now suddenly
I came back to the States and
I've been really close most of the
year really. So, it's pretty cool for
me. One of the guys on the team
said, 'Man, maybe you should
have been on Hondas in Europe,
you'd be World Champion now.'
But oh well."
