Photos by: Justin Westhead
Since the move from 125cc two strokes to the 250cc four strokes, it’s become more and more rare to see a rookie step into the 250MX class and become a consistent podium guy immediately, but Monster Energy / Pro Circuit / Kawasaki’s Austin Forkner is making it look easy. The #214 finished the 2016 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship with four straight podiums and even capped his season off with his first-ever overall win at the Ironman National finale.
In moto one, Austin got to the front early and pulled a disappearing act on the field—winning the opening moto by a massive 29 seconds. In the second moto, the freshman again pulled the holeshot and led the first nine laps, but a late race tip over crushed his dreams of finishing the season with a 1-1. Even with the crash, the 17-year-old gathered himself, crossed the line in moto two with a third and cashed in his 1-3 score for his first-ever 250MX professional win.
After the race, Austin sat down with the press, and MotoXAddicts’ Chase Yocom was there to hit record and ask a few questions. Grab your coffee because Austin has no problem sharing his thoughts.
What a day for you Austin. You went 1-3 for your first overall win today. Congratulations on your win. Talk about moto one and what was going on in your brain and then talk about moto two.
In the first moto I basically told myself that I wasn’t going to look back for the whole moto because when I look back then I just start thinking too much. I didn’t until I think it was like the twenty-minute mark that I was like, “There gotta be somebody here.” I looked back and all I saw was lappers. Then it was down the step down table that I saw them and they were by the mechanics area. I was like, “There’s no way that’s second.” Then I came around and my mechanic put plus 23 on my board and I was like, “That’s second.” It was really good. At that point, I just kind of put it on cruise control. I was really comfortable and was still able to keep pulling a little bit with my lines and stuff. I think I ended up winning by like 28 seconds or something. That was really good for me.
The second moto was good. I got off to another good start. Aaron [Plessinger] kind of had the inside of me in the second turn and he got me. I just rode around behind him for the first couple laps. Then he messed up—I got him. We didn’t really battle, but he applied a pretty decent amount of pressure on me for the first twenty minutes until I fell. Then that jump—I got sketchy on it in the first moto and it’s just like blind. You go over it and you can’t see what the ruts are. And then you look like…you just have to guess basically every single time. The ruts were so deep that even if you get it good you’re going to drag you pegs. If you don’t then you’re going to land in that soft stuff and drag your feet off. I got sketchy on that a lot of times. I hadn’t been doing it, and I kind of made a mistake before that and he caught me. I was like, man, “I need to do it.” If you can do it and get it clean, then the guy behind you doesn’t do it, it’s like a second. I just needed to get a little bit of breathing room back from the mistake I made. I ended up going down. Whenever I hit I got some sweat and dirt on the inside of my goggles on the right side so I was ripping tear-offs but it was on the inside. I had to ride the rest of the moto kind of with one eye because this side was all blurry. The bars were a little tweaked but not too bad. Cooper [Webb] got me a few laps later. I really didn’t put up much of a fight. He was there so I just kind of let him go. I followed him and actually we kind of had a battle for the next couple of laps. Then he ended up pulling away a little bit. Saw that [Alex] Martin was behind me and I just kind of put it on cruise control and brought it home. Whenever you fall, the air stops moving and you get hot, it’s hard to regroup. But I was just trying to regroup and just ride it home. I was pretty sure that I got him, but I really didn’t know [I had the overall] until I crossed the finish and my mechanic was holding up the #1. They didn’t tell me on the board. Mitch said it was because they didn’t want me to think about it that much. It probably helped a little bit.
We’ve talked for weeks about how you’ve actually said that you’re still learning how to lead races. Not only from a mental standpoint but manage the energy and stuff like that. How did you really feel? How would you grade yourself after your first moto win today on hos you did inside?
In the first moto, as far as energy level goes I was definitely down on it. It was pretty hot, but the track was just really tricky. You had to be perfect because the ruts were so deep that one little mistake and you’re losing time. I felt really good after the first moto. I would of felt good winning, but winning by nearly thirty seconds, that’s almost unreal for me. It was really good. In the second moto, I was definitely really tired. The fall didn’t help, but I think I would have been tired even without the fall. Because me and Aaron were going at it for a few laps. Obviously I wish I wouldn’t of fell ’cause I think I could have won that moto. Even if not win, if Aaron was going to get up there and put really hard pressure on me, I knew I didn’t have to beat him. So if he was going to get up there and start to get aggressive I probably would have let him around and just try to follow him. But even if I could have got second or won the moto that would have been better. I made a mistake and it doesn’t really matter now. I still got the overall win and that’s really what I wanted.
Was your mindset any different today coming into this race than it’s been? When you went out for qualifying number two, you were the first rider out there. It looked like you were charging really hard and off the start in moto one it just looked like you were attacking this race track harder than anyone else. Was that something you planned to do?
It’s been the first mud race this year and my mechanic told me on the line before practice, he said, “Get out front.” So I got out front. Most of the time I don’t like to get out front. It did help riding press day because at least I knew the track and I could go somewhat fast the first couple of laps. If I’ve never been there I really don’t like it out front because I feel like I have to push really hard. Then I end up making stupid mistakes because I don’t even know the track. Since I rode press, I pretty much knew at least the speed to hit the jumps and stuff. It was muddy so that was different, but I figured that out. I pretty much had to push to keep the guys behind me. I just tried to get out front in both practices, and I did. I was actually surprised that I did because there’s so many guys waiting for the guy to tell you to go and I ended up getting out front in both practices. So it worked out.
How much have these last couple weeks where you’ve been up in front and getting podiums actually contributed to your success today? Even with Plessinger on you, you looked pretty comfortable.
Yeah, I was pretty comfortable for the most part. Just any time that you can get up there and run with those guys in the front—like Unadilla—it’s good. I felt like at the beginning of the season my starts were super inconsistent. With bad starts most of the time you’re not going to get on the podium. My starts have definitely been way better. Just getting on the podium every week, I feel like if I could have done earlier in the season that I would be battling for second or third in the points. Because I was within ten points of third I think in the championship. That’s pretty good. Fourth in the championship—I think for a rookie—that’s really good. My trainer told me at the beginning of the year that he thinks that I could win a moto and an overall, and I did both. So I’m really pumped on that. Good way to end the series this year. Gives me some confidence going into next year. We’ll see.
I think you finished outside of the top ten in three motos. Has your consistency surprised you?
Yeah, a little bit. I knew that I wanted to be in the top ten pretty consistently. I didn’t expect to be in the top ten as much as I was this year. I think I only had a few motos outside the top ten, and one was because I crashed twice at Millville. It’s been a good season I think, consistency-wise. At the beginning of the season my starts just weren’t there. I’d holeshot one and then be outside the top twenty the next. You’re not going to get the overall finish when you do that. I was really pumped with the way my starts have been. I think I holeshoted both motos today even though Aaron passed me pretty quick in the first moto. I got two holeshots at Unadilla. Just been getting good starts lately and that obviously helps a lot with moto finishes.
A lot of times we’ll see rookies kind of tail off toward the end, because it’s a long season. You’ve actually gotten better. Is it because you’re riding with other guys that are pro?
I don’t know. I feel like that more experience is always better. I seem like I’m on a roll right now with just getting good starts, getting podiums and running up there with those guys. I feel like once you’re on a roll you’re kind of hard to stop. I feel like the past couple races that’s kind of been the case. Coming into today with being on the podium the last three races, if I would have finished off the podium today that would have been a disappointment. I knew that that’s where I should be. I just feel really good about my riding and everything.
I read something this week that Robbie [Reynard]—who you train with—really wants you to have fun away from the bike. And do other things except motocross. How do you balance the two?
Yeah, that’s something at Budds Creek that I definitely had more skate parking and stuff like that. I had fun that week and I felt like I was a little bit tired at Budds Creek. I was just kind of low on energy because I was just kind of messing around a little bit too much. This week we kind of got back on track with riding and going to the mall, going to the skate park and stuff. We kind of balanced it out. I feel like it worked out this week.
I know that we have a Michigan Mafia. I saw the new butt patch today. I didn’t know Missouri Mafia was a thing.
It really wasn’t. Me and [Benny] Bloss were talking a couple weeks ago at Unadilla. He said someone did an interview with him and he said something about being from Missouri and then some Mafia came up and it was like, “Yeah, Missouri Mafia.” I was just messing around and doing gang signs, Missouri Mafia. I guess the Fox guys overheard that and they made it a butt patch. It’s pretty sick. It’s probably my favorite butt patch of the year. I’m training at Robbie Reynard’s in Oklahoma. It’s a really good place to train. We’ve got Trey’s [Canard] place. Whenever Trey and [Justin] Bogle and those guys are healthy, we’re got them. And [Jimmy] Albertson and Bloss and [Chase] Marquier and Colt Nichols, when he was healthy. And then just all the other guys and the amateurs that stay there. It’s hot. During the break we did thirty-five-minute motos two days in a row and it was like 106 actual temperature, not even with the humidity. It’s hot and it’s good training. It’s pretty close to home being from Missouri. I like it.
What’s the off-season look like for you? You just take some time off and get back into training or do you have any off-season races to do?
I was hoping to maybe do the Soaring Eagle race, and maybe Baja Brawl—an amateur race—just for fun. I like those two races, but I’m going to be doing the GPs so that’s not going to work out. Some of the guys I feel like just as soon as the racing is done just absolutely shut off racing. Don’t touch a bike for like months, or at least until it’s time to start getting ready for supercross. I’m going to get bored if I don’t ride. I got to get the new ’17 set up for supercross, because that’s what we’re going to be riding next year. I’m just going to have them send me some of the arenacross suspension that I rode with this year. I want to go down to Trey’s and ride the supercross track at Trey’s a little bit, ride Robbie’s supercross track and there’s a hybrid supercross track that’s pretty close to us. Just kind of mess around and get in the supercross rhythm. If my friends want to go ride some outdoors, I’ll have two bikes setup, one for supercross, one for outdoors. I’ll ride a little bit. Obviously not every day and I probably won’t do much off bike. I’ll go to the skate park and stuff like that. I really don’t like getting fully out of shape. I like staying comfortable on the bike. Supercross is going to be pretty tough because it’s going to be new. I’ll slowly work my way into it and getting a little comfortable at time and then start doing motos later on this year but just slowly kind of working into it. I think that’s good. That’s kind of what I want to do.
With all the momentum the past couple weeks, how much are you looking forward to the GPs and continuing your season’s a little bit longer. It would have been kind of hard to wait three or four months with all that momentum going.
With the momentum, I’m not super excited for the GPs because it’s kind of the end of the season and you’re kind of tired. It’s kind of like, okay we were planning on being done now and then Mitch [Payton – Team Manager] was like, okay, we’ve got to have to do the GPs. I’m not super excited for it, but with the momentum that I’ve got going I think it’s going to go good. If I can get two more podiums, that will work. Just with the momentum that I’ve got going right now. Just carry it into the GPs, that’d be great. We’ll see. It’s going to be different, it’s going to be fun.
Everybody’s talking about Cooper versus Jeffrey Herlings. Why not Austin Forkner versus Jeffrey Herlings?
I want to beat him. Some of the guys at Robbie’s are like, so you’re going to be racing the GP guys. They’re like, dude, Herlings has got some raw speed. I want to get up there and run with him, and I think I can beat him. I want to try to beat him. We’ll see. I’m sure he doesn’t want to get beat by us as bad as we don’t want to get beat by him. We’ll see. It’s really a no pressure race. We didn’t even really know that we were going to be doing it until a couple weeks ago so we’ll go in, have some fun, try to beat those guys and just get some experience in case I ever go to MX des Nations in the future. Riding with them is not bad but it’s always good to ride on kind of a different schedule with the qualifying races and stuff. It’ll be good.
