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Austin Forkner got off to a top ten start in the very first moto of the day and immediately found himself in a
battle with fellow teenage teammate, Adam Cianciarulo. The two of them battled throughout the opening laps of the race, exchanging 8th and 9th place until Forkner was able to permanently work his way by on lap 4. The rookie also found his way around Mitchell Oldenburg on the very same lap which put him into 7th place. Shortly thereafter, he took advantage of mechanical issues for Rockstar Husqvarna’s Zach Osborne, which promoted him to 6th place. The Missouri native began to inch his way closer and closer to the Star Racing Yamaha of Aaron Plessinger, finding a rhythm and setting some of his fastest laps of the race in the process. The two of them found themselves in a heated battle for 5th place towards the second half of the moto where they pushed one another to the limit. Forkner was able to work his way by the Ohioan on lap 13, but it wasn’t long after the pass that he made a mistake and Plessinger got ahead of him yet again. They both managed to put in their fastest lap of the race on the final lap of moto one, leaving it all on the track
in an attempt to take the final spot of the top five. Forkner put in a 2:14.6 as he charged across the finish line, but it wasn’t enough to propel himself past Plessinger. The Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider continued to prove his speed, he was one of four riders to clock a lap time in the 2:14’s. In the second moto, he got out of the gate in 8th place and immediately went into attack mode, attempting to work his way towards the front of the field. He made some quick moves, including a clever pass on Martin Davalos in the switchbacks after Mt. Martin, but his momentum was halted after a crash knocked him back down to 22nd place. The impact of the fall forced him to bite through his tongue, but he sucked up the pain and began to fight his way back through the field. On the fourth lap, Forkner had already worked his way up to 16th place, improving his lap times as the race wore on. Just past the halfway point of the race, he moved his way into 12th place and began to hound the Geico Honda of RJ Hampshire. Forkner moved past him into 11th place with his sights set on the top ten, but he got wrangled in by the Whoop Monster and dropped back to 17th place where his race ended. He ended up 13th overall on the day, but the young gun certainly has the raw speed to run at the front of the pack; the rest of the field better do their best to beat him to the first corner next week at Washougal.
words/LAKEKILPATRICK
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