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AUSTIN FORKNER
250 MX / 7TH
IMAGE / LANG WORDS / HARNISHFEGER DESIGN / MOTOPLAYGROUND
>> Austin Forkner’s 2018 season has been hard to predict. In 2016, he appeared on the pro scene with tons of hype and speed but after a slew of crashes and minor injuries, he has not been able to ful ll
that hype as often as anticipated. His speed was certainly on display during the beginning of his 250SX East Coast Championship run. After a disappointing seventh at the opener, he rallied and won the next two races over seasoned vet and reigning champion Zach Osborne. He even snatched the points lead from him but that is when things started to come unglued. He started crashing a lot and suffering from mistakes that ultimately ended with him crashing out of the Minneapolis SX with a broken collarbone. He sat out the remainder of the series and nearly missed the start of the outdoor motocross season,
but he lined up and has been solid thus far. He started the season with a twelfth and a tenth overall but since then, he only has one nish worse than a fourth overall, so it looks like he is nally returning to the guy that can get wins on any given day. Forkner looked energetic and fast all morning in the qualifying practice sessions. The Missouri native said he trained hard all week in Oklahoma to prepare for the sand at Southwick and it paid off. He threw down the third fastest lap time of the class and was ready to go after his rst win of the season. Forkner got out of the gate in the rst moto in a favorable position. He nished the rst lap in fth place and did not intend to stay there for long. He quickly passed Chase Sexton on lap two and then Jimmy Decotis on lap three. He settled in behind fellow young gun Justin Cooper. The two riders played cat and mouse for a few laps before Forkner was able to clear him and take over second. Shane McElrath had an eight second lead on Forkner when he moved into second, so he put his head down and chased after him. Surprisingly, in just a matter of a few laps, Forkner made up all the ground on him. He pressured McElrath hard and passed him for the lead just after the halfway point. However, Forkner wasn’t out of the woods just yet. Alex Martin had followed him all the way up there and began pressuring him with a handful of laps to go. Forkner managed to weather the storm initially but Martin began pushing him again when Aaron Plessinger began pushing both of them. It turned into a three-rider duel for the lead but Forkner would be the one who would not falter, and he rode smooth while countering any pass attempt all the way to the checkered ag. It was his rst moto win since 2016 and it clearly seemed to energize him for moto two. Riding that momentum from moto one, Forkner got off to a great start again in the second moto and leaped into the lead just a few turns into the race. From there, he did not look back as he enjoyed a comfortable cushion for a majority of the race. However, in the second half of the moto, Alex Martin came knocking on his door again. Forkner was doing everything he could to hold him off and was doing so successfully. But everything went south on lap eleven. Martin rammed Forkner in a corner taking both of them down. Forkner took the worst
of it and lay motionless on the track before regaining his breath. Eventually, he remounted and would somehow salvage twentieth place. The frustration had to be all too real for Forkner as he was just a few laps away from a 1-1. Instead, he’d nish 1-20 on the day for seventh overall.
50 GRITMOTO • JULY 1, 2018