Larry Lawrence | March 18, 2017
Photo courtesy Hoppenworld.com
After a sub-par showing in Daytona, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna rider Zach Osborne bounced back strong with a hard-fought victory over series rival Joey Savatgy in the Monster Energy 250 East Supercross final inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
It was the third series win of the season for Osborne and extended his lead over Savatgy in the standings to nine points (111-102) after five of nine rounds.
Jordon Smith took third, his second-best result of the year.
The race began with Savatgy putting his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki into the early lead. Osborne emerged second and the showdown between the top two riders in the East was on.
Osborne made several attacks on the leader, but Savatgy kept his concentration level high and continued to lead.
With seven minutes to go Osborne made his move. He stuffed his Husky up the inside in a tight left hander and stole Savatgy’s line and then powered out of the corner into the lead. Once the pass was made Savatgy hung tough, but never could mount a series challenge. At the finish it was Osborne winning by 2.201 seconds.
“I felt like half the track he was way better than me and the other half I had a little advantage,” Osborne said. “We were tit for tat. Even after I passed him he was right there the whole time. It was a great race for my Rockstar Energy Husqvarna racing team. I’m really happy with the way everything is going. It was great racing tonight. It was a tough track. I felt like I had the whoops pretty dialed, but the rest of it I wasn’t jumping the big combos, so I just needed to bide my time to get it back on the other side [of the track].”
Savatgy scored his third podium of the season, but sounds anxious to get back atop the box as he’d done in the series opener in Minneapolis.
“It was forward progress,” Savatgy said. “The last three weeks have been a little rough. We had those two rounds in a row when we were off the podium. That wasn’t very good, but last week in Daytona we had a good race and this weekend we still made some progress. Obviously very frustrated. I tightened up a lot, you know, didn’t flow, didn’t let the track come to me. It adds a little bit more fuel to the fire. I’m a hard worker and we’ve got a good thing going at the farm, so we’ll be back next week for a little redemption.”
Smith looked ready to battle with the leaders, but was hung up behind his teammate Alex Martin, when Martin crashed right in front of him and lost touch with Osborne and Savatgy.
“The track was really tough out there,” Smith explained. “My Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull KTM was handling great all night. I felt really good today and felt like I had the speed to win. Alex [Martin] and I both got off to a good start tonight with Joey and Zach. I really felt if I could get around Alex I could make a run at those guys, but we got tangled up and it was just tough. I’m glad to be on the podium.”
The series now heads to Detroit.
