Main image by: Shan Moore
We recently had multi-time SX/MX champion Zach Osborne on the PulpMX Show to help us break down the Paris Supercross, the upcoming 2024 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season, and get ourselves a little update on his 2024 Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) plans.
Here’s some of that conversation but for the entire thing, you can go to pulpmxshow.com and listen/watch or check out the full show at the bottom of this post.
Racer X: Hey, we were talking about Paris SX—I know you did Paris a few times. Did you ever do Bercy?
Zach Osborne: Yeah. The first time I ever went, I actually tweeted about it the other night. The first time I ever went it was in Bercy. It was the end of ’06 going into ’07 and I made one main event.
The first time I ever went to Paris was when it was still in the old Bercy stadium. Made 1 of the 3 mains on the weekend and that was Sunday night mostly because it wasn’t a full field!
— Zach Osborne (@zacho_16) November 18, 2023
What were you on then?
Red Bull KTM. The only reason that I made the last main event of the weekend was because I think there was that many people hurt by the end of the weekend that there was just an open spot. I wasn’t even close. I was in the LCQ and just missed it by one.
What’d you get paid? Do you remember?
Three grand, I’m pretty sure. And I was stoked.
Then you were like, “Hey, guys, do you want that three grand back?”
Sorry I’m here.
Then you did Paris, the new venue, on the Husky.
Yeah, the new one is awesome. That venue is sick. Just the whole area with the mall there. For us going over there, I think it’s kind of a dream scenario where you have everything right there. You walk to the stadium, walk back to the hotel. It’s not like another episode of traveling once you get there. I always loved that one.
[The year you did it] I came into the Pulp Shows really blowing you up, because you were riding really fast. I’m like, this guy is coming off a couple 250 supercross championships. He was awesome in Paris. Watch out. Although you were good, you got injured. It didn’t quite work to the level you thought. So, you’re a great guy to talk to. Can we take anything from the recent Paris SX?
I think if you’re one of those guys that was at the front, I think yeah, you’re taking a lot from Paris. But if you’re one of the guys at the back or wasn’t what you thought, I think you’re like, “Oh, crap. We’ve got to get it in gear.” For the guys where it was a positive, I would say yeah, they’re pretty stoked. They’re pretty happy with their bikes and they don’t need a ton of changes. But, to answer your question, yeah. I think people are taking something from it, for sure.
Tell us what you’re taking away.
Jett’s [Lawrence] fast.
All right, everybody. Zach Osborne’s hard-hitting facts here on the Pulp Show.
I didn’t feel he was as special a supercross guy as outdoor guy, but he’s pretty convincing at this point after SMX and in Paris. He’s pretty freaking good. He’s just going to be a force all year.
Absolutely. It was there. You saw the same things you saw at the end of the summer in nationals.
Yeah, exactly. If it were marginal and he got a 3-2-1 and a 1-4-1 to win, okay, maybe not. But to do what he did, I’m in on that.
In my mind, I don't know if he’s going to win the title next year, but he’s going to win a lot of races and be right in the running for the title. Right?
Yeah. He’s in the thick of it, no doubt.
What I saw from him, if you zoom in and you look at it, there may be some uncharacteristic little mistakes that were going on outside him on day two that you didn’t see on day one. But the bottom line is he knows where he’s at. He’s leaving there going, “Yup, I still got it.”
Yeah, I would agree with that completely.
For me, Hunter is the one you’ve got to worry about because he’s coming out. He knows that he rides every day. He knows this but he goes, I just showed the world that I can do it at this level.
I think that’s the other big takeaway. Also, on the opposite side, I feel like I was expecting a little bit more from Coop [Cooper Webb]. But Hunter was really surprising as well. He was really good. Kind of in the thick of the battle. Definitely can run at the front when we go racing in January, I think.
Coop is a little heavier than he needs to be. Off-season Coop is known to do that. But we’re five weeks out, six weeks out. Plenty of time, Zacho?
Yeah. I’m a Coop fan. I’m not really quiet about that. I think Coop is a great racer. Someone I’ve spent a lot of time around and I know he can turn it around and I think he will. But six weeks isn’t “plenty” of time, I don't think. I think it’s time to make every second count.
He got better on Sunday. He changed his starting technique a little bit, it was better. He got third overall, but there was no doubt he was a distant fourth-best guy on the weekend. When Kenny [Roczen] didn’t crash or whatever, he got pulled and he was 15 seconds back one time. He was 13 another time off the next guy.
I think he can turn it around. Obviously new bike, all that stuff. They’re going to have some base settings and stuff for him, but I think now he goes back to the drawing board a little bit and shows up with a different package when they go racing.
He’s the one guy for me that if you look at Paris you go, we did what we needed to do to not have Coop make a big play. He’s always been one of those guys, the minute he sinks his teeth into winning, watch out.
I will say that, too. He’s the kind of guy that can go there and just be like, here to take the start money, put on a show and go home, and then show up at A1 and just destroy. Also, as much as I would be like, it’s time to go, it’s not the worst-case scenario, I don't think.
…Yeah, I agree with that. It’s always the deepest field ever. I think throughout history they’re always deep. It’s 450 supercross. It’s where all the guys are at. But now I think the difference is just how tight it is. There were races last year where, don’t quote me, but a second separated first and 15th or first and eighth. That’s historically never been the case. There’re times in history where Ricky [Carmichael] was four seconds or five seconds a lap faster than the guy in 18th. So, I think that that’s what has kind of changed, just that there really is a realistic possibility that any of those 18 guys can find a second and win that night. Most likely not. There always ends up being four or five guys that are the cream of the crop, and they have their bike right and their fitness right, and all the things are clicking. So, it’s likely not going to happen that we have 17 different winners in 17 rounds, but it’s more possible than ever before, I would say.
You got to be there. So, that’s the interesting part. The first six races, if you have a bad race, it’s going to be all-in trying to get it back.
And realistically that’s harder than ever to do, just because like what I said with the lap times. You’re not going to blow through those guys, as they could have back then. You’re not four seconds a lap faster than them. You’re hardly faster than them.
That’s a great look at Dylan Ferrandis who has been really fast but has not been able to get a start. He’s not good enough to rip through those guys. He’s gotten a couple podiums. Dylan has been good, but there’s no doubt that his supercross results are not where people thought they would be. I think a lot of it is starts.
It’s all starts. I’d love to be able to really go back and look at first laps, and if the start/finish line is after 50 or 75 percent of the first lap, when 10th place comes by, your seven to nine seconds behind. If you’re a half a second faster, there’s not enough time to make it up.
Zacho, I always think of when I hear about Hunter or Jett or the next hot kid coming up from 250s, I remember in your first year, or maybe your second year because I think you got hurt the first year, but early you told me, “Dude. It’s no joke, man. Seventeen [races] in 18 [weeks].” Now it’s 17 and 19. There’s another off week. You were saying it’s a lot. The workload and the travel and every single damn week.
Yeah, it is a lot. It’s been said a million times, but for us, the only 450 year that I had. I got hurt the first year and then the second year was COVID. So, I didn’t really ever have that whole thing. But even after I came back from my injury in ’19 and raced 11 or 12 or whatever it was straight, I was like, “Dang, this is heavy.” And the off week is the worst thing because you just want to keep going. You’re three weeks from the end. Let’s just knock it out. Then you go back to riding four days that week off, and then you got the weekend, and you don’t really know what to do because you can’t go on vacation but you don’t want to stay home. It’s a strange thing. But it is a huge workload. It is a huge ask on your body. Just travel, staying healthy. You’re in a plane twice a week, every week for basically 18 or 19 weeks, by the time the off weekend happens. It’s a lot, man.
So, Ken Roczen. I really admire Kenny. Kenny’s win last [season] was maybe the coolest thing that happened all year long. It was awesome. You can never count the dude out. I don't know about the championship, but I think more of the same from Kenny for ’24.
Yeah. I think he’s in a good spot. I’ve done a couple of bike rides with him recently and just some hanging out and whatnot. He just seems more energetic. I never really thought of Kenny as a guy who lacked confidence, because he’s so outspoken and so forward or upfront. But I felt like there was a point there where he was just like searching for himself and not really comfortable in his own skin. But man, he just seems like he feels good again and he’s strong. I think he’s going to be better this year than last year.
Skip Norfolk: I’ve been that guy. I want that guy to win. I don't know why. I can’t define it, but if he wins, I’m really happy.
I agree with that. I think he’s one of the good guys of the sport, for sure. He brings a different group of people and demographic and just has a huge reach as an athlete, not only for himself but for our sport as a whole. I think our sport is better with him in it and him at the front.
So...GNCC prep, when does that start?
It doesn’t, actually.
Oh, you’re done?
Yup. I’m done.
You’re so mysterious, Zacho. I don’t understand you sometimes. We’re friends and you just drop this on me.
Well, I thought I would just keep it for the show.
You told me not that long ago you were back in.
Honestly, it’s been a great experience. It’s been fun to be in that world. I’m super thankful to Yamaha and to Randy [Hawkins], my boss, to give me the opportunity, and everybody that was part of the program. But realistically I can’t do it all in unless I live in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, West Virginia, one of those places. I’m just not in a place in my career where I’m going to ask my family to move there for one, potentially two more years of racing. I’m just not going to take the money and be what in my mind feels like half-assed. So, I decided that it’s time to move to something different. I don’t really have anything going for next year yet. It was a super fun excursion. I had one decent result the whole year. Added some starts to the collection. I gave it my best. I really did. I put a lot of effort into it. I had an incredible off-season last year and just one little hiccup ruined my season this year. I feel like it would have been probably a little bit of a different story. Maybe I wouldn’t have been winning or killing it, but I definitely would have been somewhere in the hunt there. I just struggled to come back from my arm injury in a timely fashion to get results this year. Out of fairness to everyone, I don't want to continue to take their money and make a mess for them. So, I’m going to hang up the GNCC boots.
That’s a bit of a bummer. You never really got a good shot at it. You’ve always been a fan of off-road and all that. You never really got your shot that you wanted.
The level there is a bit like the level in supercross and motocross. When I used to do it in 2013, when I was doing [International] Six Days [Enduro] and doing some hare scrambles in 2012, basically the exact same level of racing then that I’m doing now, it’s a different world. The kids that I was racing this year, a lot of them grew up on super minis racing GNCC’s, and they’re literally still at the same tracks. I’m out there. I learned the track by the fifth lap, two and a half hours into the race, and they already know where we’re going when we’re riding E-bikes on Saturday.
So, that was definitely the biggest challenge for me was trying to learn the tracks and learn the properties and knowing where I’m at all the time. Those guys know those places well. When I was doing it before when I was getting on the podium and stuff, I was racing more like weekend warriors. So, the whole thing leveled up, just like the whole sport has. It would take me a really, really long time to be on that level, I think. It’s a gnarly sport, at the moment.
Check out the full segment with Osborne on episode #564 on the PulpMX Show below, with McAdoo calling in around the 1:07.00 mark.