PRO MOTOCROSS 250MX CHAMPION AND SUPERCROSS 250SX EAST CHAMPION
P118
INTERVIEW
Many racers see the preparation—the
training, testing, practicing, etc.—as a
necessary evil on the way to the end
goal of winning, but Osborne actually
enjoys the preparation as much as he
enjoys success.
"Winning is definitely fun, and money
is nice and everything, but I enjoy the
process," Osborne says. "I'm a pretty
one-to-one guy when it comes to work,
just my body type and my natural abil-
ity leads me to be vulnerable to missing
things. So, for me it's just I know that if I
do the work during the week it's going to
be easier and better on the weekend."
In other words, as with many racers in
the past—including Dungey, Ryan Villopo-
to, Ricky Carmichael, and many more—a
big part of the benefit of training really hard
isn't even about physical conditioning, but
rather the mental advantage that comes
with believing you're in the best shape of
anyone lined up on the gate with you.
"That was me down to the ground this
year," Osborne said. "It came very easy
on the weekends. This year's definitely
the most I've ever enjoyed the week-
ends, even if it wasn't a winning week-
end. Most of the weekends I really did
enjoy, other than maybe Detroit where I
had a DNF, which was completely out of
my control for the most part."
SETTING THE STAGE
It's that race in Detroit that set the stage
for one of the greatest single perfor-
mances in supercross racing. Osborne
was in control of the championship going
into Detroit, but as he entered the first
turn in the main event, Jordon Smith
came across stealing the holeshot from
the outside and clipped Osborne's front
wheel. Osborne not only went down, but
his front wheel was destroyed, leading
The 2017 250SX
East Supercross
Championship wasn't
decided until the last
lap of the last race.
Osborne didn't win
the race but he won
the championship.
