CONCORD, North Carolina – One of the most dramatic moments in sports is the come-from-behind victory. Austin Forkner knows something about how drama impacts racing, having been part of some spectacular battles and incidents during his career and now he has a chance to make a huge statement.
Forced out of most of both the Monster Energy Supercross and Pro Motocross 2023 seasons because of injury, Forkner faced an uphill battle to simply get an invitation to the inaugural SuperMotocross World Championship playoffs.
On Lap 1 of the Supercross opener at Anaheim, he crashed and injured his knee. A full thickness ACL tear takes a long time to repair especially when combined with a lateral meniscus tear and a fracture to the top of his tibia and fibula. He also broke a bone in his hand during the crash.
Forkner spoke about how the injury itself was not the hardest part; it was keeping emotions in check as he was forced to watch his competition ride without him.
With five rounds remaining in the outdoor season, Forkner was healthy enough to return. He finished eighth overall at Spring Creek and scored a top-five at Budds Creek a few weeks later. There was not much room for error if he wanted to be in the top 30 in combined points to qualify for the Last Chance Qualifiers. A couple of motos in which he was involved in accidents left him just outside that mark.
“I actually ended up missing 30th by one but I knew if they took in alternates, which I assumed they would because there were like five or seven guys that were hurt or not racing it. I figured I would make it in,” Forkner told NBC Sports. “I wasn’t super-stressed about it. If I make it, great; if not, I don’t. I wanted to be here because ultimately it’s more races and that’s what I’ve been lacking lately: races.”
Coming through the LCQ each week will mean Forkner starts each Moto 1 at a disadvantage. His gate pick will be no better than 19th and that will make reaction time at the gate drop critical. If Forkner gets a good start in the first race and finishes well, the second moto lines up based on those results. He can work his way forward and challenge for a top-10 at zMax Dragway. Forkner believes he can even win under the right circumstances. The next week, he’ll start from scratch and climb that same hill.
It’s an important hill. The SMX playoffs represent a third full series that will crown its own champion and award a half million dollars to the winner. Three strong runs will be reflected in the points and Forkner wants to return to the form that placed him third in 250 standings in 2019 and 2020.
A healthy Forkner recognizes how important it is to end the 2023 season on a high note because there is a bigger picture.
“I want to take these last three races and use them as gate drops,” Forkner said. “The more gate drops the better, as you saw in outdoors, each gate drop I got I was doing better and better and better. That’s my goal here to get gates drops, do better and prepare myself for next year.”