Michael Mosiman | Quiet Confidence
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Over the last three years, Michael Mosiman has gone from a crash-prone rookie to a top-five threat both indoors and outdoors. While he’s improved steadily year over year, it seems like a massive step forward happened for the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider during the closing 250 West Coast region rounds of the Supercross season. During the Seattle Main Event, Mosiman held his own against title contenders Adam Cianciarulo and Dylan Ferrandis and he’s kept the group in his sights ever since. “I don’t know if something clicked as much as it feels like natural and normal progression. I always knew this was in me and that I was capable of this, so for me to get here is not a huge surprise. For it to come at the time it did, I think that surprised the team and maybe myself a little bit, just how much I improved in Supercross,” he explained to me earlier this summer. “On the first day of Supercross this year, I was way better than I ever was last year. I studied it a little bit in the offseason and had some theories of different techniques, so to apply them was different. I was injured a little bit early in Supercross, an ankle injury, but towards the end, I was building my confidence. I would say that now my confidence and belief in myself is higher, so anything is possible.”
It’s common for racers in all forms of motorsport to say that their best performances come when they feel like they’re going slow, and Mosiman is no different. He’s never been one to hang it out, per se, and his history of crashes seemed to stem more from inexperience than recklessness. “I’d say at Hangtown, I felt like I was within myself and if you look at the end of Supercross, I was within myself. I never feel fast when I ride, I just think I’m going okay,” he said. “There have been times that I feel terrible and they’ll tell me that my times are really good so I’m like, ‘Okay, sweet!’”
Mosiman knows he now has what it takes to be in the lead group and isn’t going to be pushed around by others on the track. “I feel like I have the respect of the class now that I didn’t have before. If you pull up behind me, you’re not exactly going to blow by me anymore,” he stated. “Even the announcers at Hangtown said, ‘Oh, Ferrandis is going to go right by Mosiman and shouldn’t waste too much time.’ But he was behind me for half of the moto and ran into me once, but still didn’t get by. I think that people recognize I’m a force to be reckoned with and it’ll only get better.”
Should everything fall into place at the right time, he thinks that a moto win is possible this summer. With that said, there’s still a sense of apprehension that he openly explained. “It’s tough to call early on and I think that might even still show some confidence is lacking, but I have had a lot of people tell me I am better than I think I am and that I need to step into it,” he shared. “But I also want to be cautious and not force it in the sense of, ‘I’ve been riding within myself, so let me go above that to get a result that everyone expects.’ I think it’s only a matter of time and the thing is it’s only going to come from within me. My grandma watches the races and she talks about this lion that’s inside of me that I need to embrace.”
The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing team is known for sticking by young riders as they figure out the rigors of pro racing, and that’s something Mosiman has benefited from. “It’s been a huge blessing to be on this team. Even when I first went to the team, it was the outdoor season and I raced four races. I was top-10 in points until I went out (he was sidelined with a shoulder injury in 2017). I remember going into that season thinking that Bobby (Hewitt, team manager) has my back, just from looking at the history, all he did for Jason when things were going terrible, and how he stuck behind him,” he noted. “If anyone is going to stick their neck out for me, it’s that guy. I’m really stoked to be on this team. The way they handle a rider like me, Bailey, and Thomas, they’re so good at it and I’m blown away at times.” Mosiman is at the end of his current contract with the team but is optimistic that he’ll remain with them for 2020 and beyond.
Results on the track will always be the most important metric when it comes to racing, but Mosiman has earned plenty of attention for his creative social media presence. Team sponsor Rockstar Energy mandates that athletes post something about the drink at regular intervals, something that Mosiman does with creative and lighthearted videos, and every one of his posts is complete with a “fun fact” that may or may not relate to the subject. One would think that a 19-year-old would be all about social media, but Mosiman openly admits it’s not something he enjoys, despite being quite good at it. “I have a love-hate relationship with social media. Not even a love-hate, more just hate. I’m really good at it and I realize that. I have 16,000 followers or something and for a rider of my caliber, if you compare me to the other guys, it’s way down. I’m not a, ‘Hey look at me’ type of guy,” he explained. “I try to be humble and I don’t care to pump myself up, don’t care if anyone is paying attention, and don’t care if a bunch of people follow me. On Instagram, I will post and then delete the app on my phone, then download it again for the next post. I try not to even look because I end up spending too much time on it and I don’t like the influence it has on me. I’m not strong enough to shun it, so I have to take steps.”
