VOL. 54 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 15, 2017 P41
AMA ANNOUNCES MXON TEAM
T
he 2017 Motocross of Na-
tions Team USA was an-
nounced at the Unadilla Nation-
al, August 12, but only two of the
riders—Zach Osborne and Cole
Seely—were in attendance.
The team's captain, Osborne,
has never raced for Team USA
before, but he has competed in
the event in the past as a mem-
ber of Team Puerto Rico, which
is allowed to field riders with
U.S. passports, since Puerto
Rico is a territory of the United
States. Osborne will be racing
MX2 this year; when he raced
for Puerto Rico in 2008, he was
on a 450.
"Yeah, it's huge," Osborne
said of be selected to the team.
"I'm honored to be the team
captain for Team USA in Eng-
land in a couple months. It's an
event that I've always wanted to
do and I've worked really hard to
be in a position where I can be
selected, so I'm grateful for that.
I'm just blessed to be in this
position."
Joining Osborne on Team
USA will be the team's MXGP-
class racer, Honda's Cole Seely,
who, as somebody who has
never been known as an "out-
door guy" has been a fan of the
event for a long time.
"Oh, it's huge," Seely said. "I
said earlier, I didn't even dream
of it because it was never really
in the cards for me. I've been
waking up that morning, and
watching the race when it's
overseas, for years. I follow it
really closely, so to even get the
call to maybe be in the running
to go was unbelievable. So I'm
really stoked to go over there.
Really happy to go check out a
new country and just happy to
represent our country."
The final racer on Team USA
will be Thomas Covington who
races for the MXGP version of
the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna
team in the MX2 class. Cov-
ington will be racing the Open
class, which will give him an op-
tion to race a 250 or a 450.
Roger DeCoster will again
manage the team.
Star Yamaha's Dylan Ferran-
dis is going to be representing
Team France at the event next
month, alongside GP regulars
Gautier Paulin and Romain
Febvre. France is the defending
champion of the event.
Soon-to-be 450MX champ
(barring any major catastro-
phe) Eli Tomac was an obvious
choice for the team, but he
announced last month that he
did not want to compete in the
MXoN this year, opting to rest
after a busy season, as well as
to prepare for the upcoming
MXGP in Florida and the Mon-
ster Energy Cup.
Another front-runner for the
team, Jason Anderson, was un-
available due to injury. He's sit-
ting out the rest of the outdoor
nationals after having surgery
on his foot.
A thumb injury also ruled out
Blake Baggett. CN
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JOHN
HIPKISS
(Left to right) Cole Seely and Zach Osborne will represent Team USA at the
Motocross of Nations. Roger DeCoster will again manage the team. Thomas
Covington (not pictured) will be the third member of the team.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
ROB
KOY
