MICHAEL MOSIMAN: LESSONS LEARNED!

Rebounding from a wicked string of injuries going back to 2022, when he broke his neck, Michael Mosiman might just be emerging as Haiden Deegan’s biggest challenger for the AMA 250SX West title.

Three rounds into the 2026 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, Michael Mosiman holds down second place in the 250SX Championship. Powering out of Sebastopol, California, Mosiman has experienced a couple of ravaged seasons in recent years and has been gaining momentum and confidence thus far in 2026, with fifth-, third- and second-place finishes coming in the 250SX West opening rounds at Anaheim 1, San Diego and Anaheim 2, respectively. 

A member of the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing organisation, the new racing season has been promising for the Californian and on Friday, heading into this Saturday’s event at NRG Stadium in Houston, Mosiman weighed in on season ‘26 and just how it has all been going for him.

“I’m in Tallahassee,” pointed out Mosiman, stoked to be looking to Houston this weekend. “I’m packing up and getting ready for the weekend. I leave in three hours to go to the airport. I feel good. I feel great. It’s nice. Things are rolling right now. I’m just looking forward to it.”

Thus far in 2026, Mosiman has been able to post up solid top-five finishes in the first three rounds of the highly competitive 250SX West Championship.

“At the opening round at Anaheim, I felt pretty good,” Mosiman explained. “There was a lot of adversity having to go through the LCQ. But then to be able to rebound was great for me. I surprised myself at the beginning of the main event to be able to get a good start from the very outside on a not favorable gate. I was kind of just riding around. I wasn’t pushing the pace crazy-hard. I was hurting a bit from some stuff in practice. Overall, I was stoked to get out of there with a top-five finish and to get the season underway. I kind of got my feet under me. I wasn’t shooting for the moon for the first one. I was just whatever was kind of there. To get solid points out of the first round was great. It’s what I was looking for.”

Mosiman is rebounding from a wicked string of injuries going back to 2022 when he broke his neck. Further injuries throughout 2024 and 2025 came in the form of a neck fracture, an ankle aggravation and a concussion. Undaunted, Mosiman has continued to move forward and excel in the opening phase of the season.

“It’s been a crazy few years, having to move a couple times,” Mosiman explained. “I also had a lot of fairly serious injuries. I had shoulder surgery. I broke my neck. I broke my face. I also hurt my knee and my left ankle. It’s kind of par for the course for racing dirt bikes, unfortunately. I’m changing a lot. I’ve grown a lot through it. I think me, looking back now, all of the craziness of the last couple years was necessary to help me learn the lessons I needed to. No injury went without growth from me. I think earlier on in my career, because I lacked maturity, I didn’t take responsibility and learn from my mistakes. I think that is a huge part of what’s allowing me to excel now. The podium in San Diego was awesome. To get on the box early in the year was excellent for me. Also, to come back from further back in the field and to be on the box was really great. I felt strong to the end. I felt really consistent. I felt like I didn’t have to race on the limit at all with my speed. I was really happy to get on the box there. It came naturally, which was awesome. And the Anaheim 2 podium meant a lot. You get on the box at San Diego, and I don’t think that was a fluke by any means. To continue with the same mentality and to back it up at A2, where I was a lot stronger, was huge. Moving to second in the points and to lead laps and to really have a shot at winning that race was great. It has been a long time since I was in a position where that was feasible. I was right there. And the quality of my riding was there. I made no mistakes. I was just Steady Eddie. I didn’t get overexcited and try to push and make mistakes. I was able to be content and focus on my riding and not the results. It’s awesome to have two back-to-back finishes. Yeah, it’s just awesome when you see all the work come together. There is a sense of, ‘Wow, I’m come so far. It worked. I am a force to be reckoned with in a series’.

And Mosiman knows and believes that he has the speed and talent to win races and contend for a title.

“I know, for sure, that I can win. Obviously, I have great speed and it has been a long journey to get back to that. I think I’m a better rider now. Maybe there are aspects and some ways where I had more speed previously in my career, but it was a little bit more reckless speed and riding with a lot of ego. There are a lot of decisions that I made that were prioritising me.

“I almost didn’t have this ride at Star because I was set on training with my own guy,” continued Mosiman. “They told me not to go with that choice. I dug my heels in and I insisted that I work and train with my own guy, Philippe Barbier. I am still working with Gareth Swanepoel and I do all the riding with Star guys. It’s no disrespect to Gareth; it’s just a matter of doing what I believed was going to be best for me. Philippe is a neuroscientist. He was an exercise scientist first. His athletes were really fit, but they were making mistakes and mental mistakes and not winning races. He was so determined to work on that, so he went back to school to get Neuroscientist degree. He also did years of therapy work. He’s a crazy package of skills and is constantly looking for development on all different levels. He’s looking for any sort of edge that we can get. He’s a huge, huge part of my program and a massive reason why I have been able to rebound and get to this level again.

“The team and I get a long really well. We’ve been able to build a relationship. We are always joking around. It has been really good. The longer that I’ve been able to be there, the more I have built a rapport with them. I’ve been able to gain trust. A lot of people there really have my back.”

Mosiman is now looking at his approach to the next three rounds of racing set for Houston, Phoenix and Seattle.

“I want to approach the next three rounds the same way,” said Mosiman. “Just because I’m in the title hunt, I’m not going to go crazy. I’m going to just take whatever finishes are there. I’m going to try and get good points every weekend. I want to minimise risk and capitalise on other’s mistakes.”

Goals and objectives Mosiman hopes and plans to hit this championship season?

“That’s a good question,” says Mosiman. “Right now, my goal is to just continue this momentum that I’m on. I’m not really thinking about a championship. I’m really worried about the next race and the new practice and the next day of training. I’m proud of who I’ve become as a racer. I think my goal is to continue to improve as a racer and a person and I think if that happens, the results will come. My goals are more about progress than they are about getting a result. In the Outdoors, I feel like I have a really good chance to be at the top. I had a really good off-season and built a lot of base fitness. I think Outdoors is a strength of mine and I think this mentality that I have is allow me to perform really consistently, which is huge. I don’t think there are any clear favourites leading into the Outdoors. I’m looking forward to a really strong Outdoor season. Who knows what that is? I wasn’t sure I was going to be on the podium throughout the first three races and I’ve nearly won a race already, so the sky is the limit.”