It’s been a turbulent few years for Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Michael Mosiman, who despite having shown race-winning speed, suffered a string of injuries that led the Californian to briefly call time on his professional career. Returning to the podium in Arlington, however, signifies a self-described ‘career revival’ using unique methods in his approach.

Image: Octopi Media.

The sport of Monster Energy Supercross moves at a blink and you’ll miss it pace at times, with constant racing, constant contenders, and constant championships on the line. Therefore, it doesn’t seem too long ago that Mosiman was capturing 250SX West race wins and in the championship mix, battling Hunter Lawrence and Christian Craig in 2022.

Three years separate now from then, with Mosiman having only contested eight races since the 2022 season, posting sporadic results throughout ’23 and ’24 amidst a run of injuries that left the 25-year-old reconsidering his place in the two-wheeled world.

“I’ve been through some really hard stuff, really gnarly injuries and stuff where it’s like, ‘Man, can you come back from this? I don’t know,’ recalled Mosiman during Arlington’s post-race press conference. “Nights in a hospital bed… You have the speed, but had these issues. It’s like, ‘Okay, well, how are we going to fix it?’ The speed never goes away. And so it’s just a matter of harnessing it. It’s been a lot of work that’s gone into this on just every level stuff.”

Image: Octopi Media.

There’s a price to pay to be a professional motocross and supercross athlete, with one look at an injury wrap sheet at the end of any given year painting the picture of the cost. For Mosiman, it was a fractured neck last June whilst gearing up for the Pro Motocross season that provided a wake-up call, with either preventative measures needed or for the boots to be hung up.

The question is: How does a rider prevent themselves from crashing? And if there was a method, all riders would adopt that strategy, right? Unfortunately, some riders are more prone to this than others, with Mosiman being one of those more susceptible to hitting the ground during his career. Interesting, however, is the path that he is taking, with neurological training chosen to increase concentration.

“[I’ve been doing] interpersonal identity stuff and neurological exercises, training my brain so that I can make better decisions in the moment on the track,” he explained. “ When I was younger, I felt like I didn’t learn the things that I needed to learn – I would make mistakes and then I would make them again and again.”

Image: Octopi Media.

This degree of accountability exposes the problem, brings it to light, and allows work to be done. As we see in other cases, some riders who experience the same problems simply twist the throttle further. However, they end up on the ground time and time again in their careers, with no change enacted. Mosiman is looking to change the narrative and harness the speed and potential that have seen him run with the best in the sport.

“I’ve battled with the likes of Jett Lawrence, you know, guys that are just light years ahead of my career to date,” he continued. “So I think that there’s no limit, you know, to put on what I can do. I want to win a title, and that’s really big. And so it’s building a base for the potential of that in the future.”

As a fan, one of the more difficult things to watch is a rider who has all the potential, but can’t transform that into a solid career and instead succumbs to the dark side of the sport, with injuries robbing what otherwise could’ve been a success story.

For Mosiman, he was a rider in this zone, and since 2022, he has flirted with the realm of the lost. That seems to all have changed, however, with the Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing team seeing the possibilities, and a rider willing to do the work to rewrite the story.

“I’m smiling. I just… it feels good, you know? It’s a relief when you work and work and work and work and you get the results and they pay off. So it just really means a lot and I’m excited for the future.”

A measured, more intellectual-based approach is set to govern this second wind in Mosiman’s career. Can this strategy yield a championship run, and provide a pathway for riders who experience the same setbacks? Time will tell.