Cycle News

INTERVIEW P70 ZACH OSBORNE all. Then he repeated that performance at the next round, grabbing third in his class and ninth overall despite a first-turn crash. "I actually feel like I should have won one of the two," Osborne said. "I took myself out of the one in Georgia, the second one, in a first-turn crash. In Florida, I really just didn't know enough about the pace and when to push and when not to push, to really get the job done. But I'm going to do some more, maybe one or two more at the end of this season." That's how Osborne got an invitation to race for the USA in this year's ISDE, on the World Trophy Team. "Basically, they just called me up and asked me to be on the team," Osborne says. "I asked GEICO because it's a pretty big responsibility for me. It's like $15,000 to race to get to go; between flights, hotel for two weeks, shipping crates and all that stuff. It's about $15,000. So I had to first kind of financially set myself up for that. Then, I had to ask the team if it's something we can do, because the bike has to be completely street-legal. It has to run for 60 hours in one week, which is a pretty big ask. And just get their permission to go. They said yes and I committed to doing it. Last week the team was announced and I was part of it." It's going to require Osborne to work on his own bike during the event, which it's pretty safe to say none of his contemporary racers would be able to do. "I feel like I'm good enough, you know?" Osborne says. "I can do basically everything aside from split the cases. I feel good about my wrenching skills. My mousse-changing skills are coming along. I've been practicing once or twice a week, just trying to get a little bit better. But I think we'll be ready." He joins an elite group of racers who have competed in the Motocross of Nations and the "Monster Cup is going to be a little bit of a pickle," Osborne says. "I want to do it. I would like to have a 450 there, but with the Six Days, it's going to be like 10 days between those two events and I don't know if that's enough time to really get a bike dialed. We'll see. It's something I'd like to do, though." So, why? Why does Osborne work so hard to do things like GNCCs and the ISDE while his BULLDOG. " I'M MORE JUST A THE SMOOTH I'M DEFINITELY NOT POURCEL TYPE. " ISDE. Stefan Everts has actually won both events. When asked if he knew of anyone else who had ever raced in both events, Osborne said, " I don't know for sure, but probably. I do know that no one has ever been on the GNCC, Supercross and Motocross podium the same year, and I did that this year, so that's kind of off the list. Last year, I was kind of in the running for the ISDE and wanted to do that and the Motocross of Nations – like skip the sixth day of the enduro and head to the Nations – but my bike blew up on a jump and I got hurt at the beginning of the season last year. That kind of put me out of the deal." The ISDE may make his racing the Monster Energy Cup on a 450 kind of difficult, though. competitors normally take as much time as they can off of the bike when they don't have to ride? "Honestly, I just love to ride!" Osborne says. "I have fun riding still, everyday. I'm looking forward to the experience and it's always something that's appealed to me in a way: off-road racing. It's just kind of been my thing for a while now, but I've never been in a situation to where I can do it. But I'm all about it, and the team lets me do it sometimes. As long as I don't take too many risks with it, they're pretty pumped on it. It's fun for me. I enjoy it. I try to go out once a week, or once every two weeks in the woods and just have a good time. So I'm definitely looking forward to the Six Days, for sure." CN

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