HURRICANE MILLS, Tenn. – Zach Osborne overcame rainy conditions to earn his second-straight Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship 450 class victory at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch on Saturday afternoon.
The 450 class was greeted with a muddy track and sunny skies for its first moto. As the field stormed out the start gate it was Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Justin Barcia who captured the holeshot and sprinted out to a comfortable lead early on. Behind him, Fredrik Noren settled into second, with Broc Tickle in third.
Barcia, one of the most savvy riders in the mud, continued to pull away from the field, soon establishing an insurmountable margin of more than 20 seconds within a matter of a few laps. Behind him the battle for position jockeyed between several riders. Noren crashed and lost several positions, leaving Tickle to battle Eli Tomac and the Team Honda HRC duo of Chase Sexton and Christian Craig. A determined Tomac was able to sustain his forward progress and eventually made the pass on Tickle for second. Several laps later Tickle lost his hold of third to Craig.
As Barcia continued to ride in a class of his own out front, things behind them got interesting in the closing moments of the moto. Craig encountered misfortune and dropped out of podium contention, which appeared to all but ensure a runner-up finish for Tomac. However, the reigning series champion’s bike lost pace in the closing laps and caused him to lose several positions before eventually coming to a stop on the final lap.
Barcia took the win by 48 seconds over his teammate Tickle, who brought home a second-place finish, while Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo made a late charge to finish third. Noren followed in fourth, while Osborne rounded out the top five. Tomac ended up with a ninth-place finish.
The best track and weather conditions of the day highlighted the final 450 class moto. When the gate dropped it was the Max Anstie who charged to the holeshot ahead of Marvin Musquin. The Frenchman was able to get by the Brit for the lead, but Anstie responded to reclaim the top spot. Behind them, Tomac made contact with his teammate, Cianciarulo, and went down in the first turn, which forced him to start at the rear of the field. In his search for the overall win, Barcia began the moto in sixth, but later crashed and dropped deep in the running order.
The lead duo was able to build a gap over the rest of the field, with Anstie enjoying a multi-second advantage on Musquin. Cianciarulo gave chase from third, and positioned himself with an opportunity to claim the overall in doing so. As the race wore on, the intrigue of the moto ramped up as Osborne started to make a move to the front.
The point leader was able to close in on Cianciarulo for third and make an aggressive pass for the position. From there, Osborne continued his charge and tracked down Musquin for second. After making the pass on the KTM rider, Osborne had Anstie within sight and dropped the hammer in pursuit of the lead. Anstie responded initially, but when a lapped rider crashed in front of him and briefly halted his momentum it opened the door for Osborne to get by and seize control of the moto.
As things changed dramatically at the front of the field, the same could be said for both Barcia and Tomac as well. Both riders encountered misfortune and were ultimately unable to finish the moto, ending their days on a sour note.
Despite some occasional smoke coming from the exhaust pipe of his Husqvarna, Osborne never wavered and was able to hold off a charge from Musquin on the final lap to take the moto win by 2.2 seconds to cap off one of the wildest days of his career. Anstie capitalized on his stellar start to bring home a first career moto podium in third.
Osborne’s win moved him to the top of the overall classification (5-1) for his second straight victory. Cianciarulo earned his first 450 class podium finish in second (3-5), while Musquin’s late push helped him round out the overall podium in third (8-2).
After winning the first moto Barcia finished seventh overall (1-32), while Tomac carded the worst finish of his career in 16th (9-24).
“Man, what a day. To be the points leader and miss a practice like we did earlier in the day, it’s just crazy,” said Osborne, who needed to join the slower qualifying group after his bike failed to start in his scheduled session. “I couldn’t have done this without my team today. I know it’s cliche, but they did everything they could to keep me and my teammates out there with a shot to make things happen. I wasn’t necessarily looking to win, but stacking points was on my radar today. I had to fight hard and battle back to finish fifth in that first moto, and then we were able to come away with a win in moto two. I’m so grateful to be up here.”
In other action, GEICO Honda’s Jeremy Martin made his long awaited return to the top step of the podium in the 250 class.