Lucas Oil Pro Motocross leader Zach Osborne will go ‘on the offense’ after losing points with a flat front tire at Millville, predicts in-form 450MX rival Adam Cianciarulo following his back-to-back round wins.

Osborne saw his advantage in the standings reduced from 28 points to 15 at the end of moto two last weekend when he was forced to nurse his Rockstar Energy Husqvarna home and salvage 10th overall.

Meanwhile, Cianciarulo achieved his first-career 1-1 result in a string of mid-season victories, managing to close his deficit to Osborne from over 40 points as he climbed to second in the championship. It will be an all-out battle from this point and Osborne has already stated that there will be ‘no managing’ with three rounds remaining.

“I would hate to speak for Zach, but I think before he had 30 points or something like that,” Cianciarulo commented. “I think it would be easy – not saying he was in that mindset before – but it would be easy to start being a little bit more defensive.

“Even with a few rounds to go, I know from past experience myself and kind of feeling that way, just not really hanging it out on the edge, but now with the points a little bit closer I’m sure he’ll be a little bit more on the offense.

“I think everybody has bad races, it’s a bummer that he had a flat tire, but stuff happens and it’s never easy to win a championship, so I’m sure he’ll bounce back and be right up there in the battle next weekend. He’s a great rider, so looking forward to doing battle the rest of the year.”

It’s shaping up to be an intriguing showdown between reigning 250MX champion Cianciarulo and Osborne, who captured the lower-tier outdoor crown in 2017, while Marvin Musquin (Red Bull KTM) is also well in contention as he is just a further five points in arrears leading into Jacksonville.