ATV-TALK A Motorsport Podcast · Leonard Duncan

Episode 382 Jeremy Osborn: “Making Racing Fun Again”

April 7, 2026·1 hr 25 min·7 clips

Jeremy Osborne discusses whether recent ATV motocross changes will lower machine costs or bring new blood to the sport.

1. ATV Talk host Leonard Duncan interviews track operator and former racer Jeremy Osborne about the state of ATV motocross, including cost pressures, industry changes, and what it would take to make racing fun again. 2. Osborne runs a motocross track in Ohio and has a daughter named Kenzie who has raced ATV motocross competitively; he brings both a promoter's and a parent-racer's perspective to the conversation. 3. The episode's central question is why ATV motocross participation is declining and what specific changes — in cost, format, attitude, or industry structure — could reverse that decline. 4. Osborne argues that machine costs will not come down because ATV riders and racers are compulsive customizers who want to make everything cooler and better, describing the community as 'our own worst enemy' in the cost-reduction conversation. 5. Duncan raises a rumor about a Chinese-manufactured 450 ATV potentially entering the market, and Osborne draws a parallel to KTM — once dismissed before winning championships in the Ryan Dungey and Eli Tomac eras — as a reason not to write it off. 6. Osborne reports that Honda engineers at a 2023 SAE Baha event at his track confirmed a prototype aluminum-frame fuel-injected ATV existed but was shelved after frame breakage problems and a corporate pivot toward UTVs. 7. Both men agree that Japanese manufacturers have ceded the ATV performance market to independents, and that Honda's instinct to buy aftermarket R&D (citing Lager and Roll chassis work that became the TRX 450R) was a missed opportunity to actually understand what American riders want. 8. They discuss the 'good, fast, and cheap — pick two' principle as the governing logic of ATV aftermarket pricing: parts made in batches of 25 to 100 will always cost more than mass-produced automotive equivalents made in volumes of 250,000. 9. Osborne identifies the pro class cost crisis as the most urgent structural problem: building a competitive engine now costs a ridiculous amount per round, and he proposes mandating sealed stock engines as a fix, noting pro production riders already come within two to three seconds per lap of full-mod machines. 10. Duncan raises the Walsh electric quad as a potential path forward; Osborne says he has ridden the Stark electric dirt bike, found it fun but not compelling enough to purchase, and estimates switching a stable of Yamaha race quads to electric would cost $50,000 to $60,000. 11. Osborne identifies travel costs — particularly diesel at over $7 a gallon in Southern California — as a larger deterrent to amateur families than machine maintenance costs, estimating one round of travel costs roughly $1,000 in diesel with eight or nine rounds per year. 12. Both men discuss the AMA's relationship with the ATV industry: Duncan argues the AMA historically redirected ATV sponsor money to motorcycle programs when it entered three-wheeler racing, and Osborne agrees while noting the AMA is actively helping Ohio draft inherent-risk legislation that protects race facilities. 13. Osborne notes that Joel Hetrick received an AMA Athlete of the Year award at his track but argues the AMA does not treat former ATV pros with appropriate respect or acknowledge their talent level. 14. The conversation covers the structural oddity of AMA Pro Racing being owned by Daytona Motorsports Group rather than the AMA itself, which Osborne says makes the relationship complicated to understand or explain. 15. On promotion, Osborne praises Matt at Chicagoland, Jane at Muddy Creek (who is using Apex Motorcycling for live streaming), and Duncan's own promotion as examples of tracks that put in genuine effort, while acknowledging that promoter costs — machinery, fuel, pre-event maintenance — are extremely high. 16. They discuss local media as a lost channel: radio used to promote events for free, but now costs $1,000 a day for a truck, and TV coverage is either unaffordable or too fragmented across platforms to build consistent audience. 17. Kenzie Osborne's retirement from competitive racing is discussed as emblematic of a broader 2025 wave of riders stepping back — college obligations, part-time jobs, and the diminishing financial return of amateur racing all cited as factors. 18. Osborne's personal plan for the upcoming season: attend three or four ATV motocross events to ride and potentially race casually, rather than competing seriously — a shift he describes as returning to the spirit of why people rode in the first place. 19. Experienced ATV motocross participants — racers, track operators, builders, and longtime industry observers — will find this a frank, knowledgeable conversation about the sport's current structural problems. 20. Casual fans or new riders unfamiliar with ATV motocross industry politics, AMA governance, or the history of the pro class will need some background to follow the more detailed sections.

As heard by us

An ATV Talk episode on costs, class rules, and how the sport is changing.

This ATV Talk conversation keeps its focus on the practical side of ATV motocross change. Jeremy Osborne and Leonard Duncan talk through machine costs, class structure, and what it looks like when riders step away and later come back.

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Why you'd press play

You want a straight talk on ATV motocross costs, rider churn, and class-rule myths.

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