Osborne was excited to win
Sunday's event with such little
experience in off-road racing.
"I'm learning the format, learn-
ing how to do everything," said
Osborne. "The start procedure,
the time in-between, just the
whole gamut of what sprint en
-
duro is here in the USA. To have
the weekend that I had, I feel like
I was pretty successful. I won
five of the six cross tests. Was
second in one of the enduro
tests, plus won another one,
which wasn't even on my radar
for this weekend against guys
like Jonny and Layne and Josh.
So, that was huge for me."
Osborne hadn't raced pro
-
fessionally since the Thunder
Valley Motocross in Colorado in
2021.
"I was extremely nervous
about this first race," Osborne
said. "So, to be back at a profes
-
sional level, it means a lot more
to me to race this weekend than
most people will ever know, just
from where I was in the last year
and a half as far as my health
and stuff goes. It's just a huge,
huge shot in the arm for me."
Toth is the defending U.S.
Sprint Enduro Champion and
came into the event with strong
hopes, despite being on a new
team and a new bike.
"It was a pretty stacked Pro
class this week," said Toth. "The
course had very moto-like tests,
although the enduro test got
gnarly and rooty and rough, and
it was pretty one-lined and fast
so there was nothing to sepa
-
rate all of us, so that made for
super tight racing. I had some
decent crashes just trying to
make up time in the last two en
-
duro tests on day one, but usu-
ally enduro tests are my strong
point. Those boys were laying
it down, even Zacho [Osborne].
So, props to him. I just tried to
keep him honest. It was cool try-
ing to defend off Zacho on the
full-blown moto track for just a
wide-open sprint. Overall, it was
a pretty solid weekend."
Layne Michael, who was the
2021 U.S. Sprint Enduro Cham
-
pion, was fourth overall after
making some impressive rides.
Like Toth, he too was coming
into the year on a new team
and a new bike. Michael looked
strong on Saturday and was in
contention most of the week
-
end, but one of the early tests
on Sunday did him in.
"That first enduro test really
stings right now," said Michael.
"A little mistake and I kind of
went into the trees and got hung
up. It just took me too long to
get out. I lost probably 15 to 20
seconds. So, I knew it was kind
over there. I kind of had a faint
shot there heading into the last
VOLUME ISSUE JANUARY , P61
Cody Barnes topped the Pro
2 division in fifth overall.
