WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 54 ISSUE 18 MAY 9, 2017 P71
However, Smith made a costly
error and handed his spot over
to Savatgy on lap two, then went
down on the fastest part of the
track trying to get Savatgy back.
Smith was out for the night and
walked back to the pits.
"I needed another miracle like
I did last weekend," Osborne
said. "When we went down, Da-
kota Alix's footpeg was stuck in
my spokes, and it took me a min-
ute to get it freed up, so I was
dead last by 10 or 15 seconds.
I just thought I'd do what I can
to get back to wherever. Then I
saw Smith down, and I knew in
the first couple laps that Joey
[Savatgy] was right up front, so I
had no idea [if I was even close]
until like four laps to go."
As Osborne continued to
work his way valiantly through
the field, Savatgy started losing
250SX EAST/WEST
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's
Zach Osborne has been through
a lot in his racing career. For the
first time in his career, though,
he came into the series finale
within very realistic range of win-
ning his first-ever professional
championship. He sat one point
behind TLD/Red Bull KTM's
Jordon Smith, and was tied with
Monster Energy/Pro Circuit
Kawasaki's Joey Savatgy for
second in the points standings.
All Osborne had to do to secure
his first title was beat Savatgy
and Smith, while finishing close
enough to Savatgy's teammate
Adam Cianciarulo to prevent
Cianciarulo from winning the title
instead. Osborne was fast all
day, but went down in the first
turn in his heat race and barely
managed to qualify for the main
event with an eighth-place finish.
In the main, it happened
again. Off the start, Cianciarulo
got the holeshot and his team-
mate Savatgy was right behind
him, but Savatgy ran into trouble
on the second lap and dropped
back to seventh, two spots be-
hind points leader Smith.
However, they were miles
ahead of Osborne, who found
himself down on the ground
on the outside of the first turn,
with his Husky underneath KTM
privateer Dakota Alix's machine.
And Alix wasn't helping. Alix got
up limping, and Osborne had to
pick Alix's bike up off of his, and
get the footpeg out of his mo-
torcycle's spokes. By the time
he got going, he was at least 15
seconds behind the last-place
guy, and his championship ap-
peared to be over.
