STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE COX
T
here are many things that supercross is and
motocross is not. Supercross is fancy, com-
fortable, (relatively) clean and tends to favor
technical racers. Motocross is gnarly, uncomfort-
able, filthy and tends to favor strong racers. That's
why it's pretty common for racers to be better at
one than the other. Call them "specialists" if you
must, but generally it boils down to technical abil-
ity vs strength and toughness. When a racer has
both, that's something special. Right now, it looks
like Zach Osborne and Eli Tomac have both.
Tomac came up just short of his first 450SX
championship just a couple weeks ago, but
won a season-high nine races on the year, and
Osborne not only won his first-ever title with the
2017 250SX East crown, but he also won his first
four AMA Supercross races of his career this
year. Then, when things got hot and gnarly, they
both dominated at Hangtown, both qualifying first
overall in timed qualifying, and both going 1-1 in
the two motos.
Even though there has only been one race
run so far, it's clear that the 2017 MX National
Championships go through Zach Osborne and Eli
Tomac.
450MX
Fresh off of losing a very close and hotly contest-
ed AMA Supercross Championship to now-retired
Ryan Dungey, Monster Energy Kawasaki's Eli
Tomac came to Hangtown looking for a fresh start
on the run to his first 450cc title, and boy did he
get what he came for...
Tomac was easily the fastest qualifier, putting in
a time about 3/4 of a second faster than second-
placed Jason Anderson of the Rockstar Energy
Husqvarna team, and Red Bull KTM's Marvin
Musquin was almost two full seconds behind
Tomac in third.
In moto one, Honda's Christian Craig snatched
the holeshot over Musquin, Monster Energy
VOL. 54 ISSUE 20 MAY 23, 2017 P73
Zach Osborne carry their
momentum to the great outdoors
LET'S TAKE
OUTSIDE
