Hendersonville, North Carolina: It’s a podium followed by a podium for Zach Osborne in the Monster Energy Supercross Lite West Series, on his Team Monster Energy BikeIt Cosworth Yamaha YZ250F, fitted end-to-end with Öhlins suspension. Osborne followed up his third-place finish last week with a third-place finish this week, in Saturday’s SX event in Oakland, California, at the Overstock.com Coliseum. Smooth.
Clocking the second-fastest time in his Heat, Osborne earned gate number-four for his start in the Main, where he launched off into about eighth-place into the first turn. Osborne quickly made a handful of passes and was immediately also aided by errors of others, finding himself suddenly in second.
At the other end of the race, with just two laps to go, Osborne was passed for position to finish a close third at the checkers, less than two-seconds behind second, and more than two-seconds in front of fourth. Osborne’s consistency throughout the season has catapulted him into sole ownership of third-in-points, a mere six points from second place. And he did it all just for fun.
After the race Osborne said, “I was comfortable all day and thought I’d be in contention for a podium, maybe the win. In my Heat I didn’t have a great start but rode well to finish second. In the Main, after just a few laps, I rode a little tight and had some arm pump. I think that seeing the others make mistakes and fall in front of me caused me to over-think things a bit and tighten up. Early off I was running at around eighth and then pretty suddenly I was in second. I never really regained the speed I knew I had, though third is a really good finish. Everything with the bike was comfortable and great, showing how pre-season testing with Marty from Öhlins USA has paid off. ”
Using these races as pre-season testing for his real job, South Carolinian Osborne will no longer be competing for the SX Lites West Championship in the USA, but has now headed off to Europe to compete in the MX2 World Championship Series. His first race overseas is March 11, in the British Championship Series, and then the MX2 World Championship Series starts its season April 9, in the Netherlands. But don’t despair, Osborne has announced that next year he will challenge for the SX Lites Championship here at home.
Öhlins USA distributes and services the world’s leading performance suspension components for automobiles, motorcycles, and ATVs. Öhlins develops its proprietary and trend-setting suspension components, steering dampers and oils, at the highest levels of racing from open-wheel car racing, to Moto GP, to off-road competition on two and four wheels. Öhlins USA also provides training for service centers and dealers. Öhlins USA can be contacted at: 828-692-4525; www.Ohlinsusa.com
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