Austin Forkner Injury Update

Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Austin Forkner confirmed on his Instagram yesterday that he sustained a broken collarbone in the third race at Saturday’s Triple Crown event in Arlington.

The incident happened when Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence and Forkner collided mid-air over the finish line after Lawrence hit a Tuff Blox and veered into Forkner’s line.

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The injury is to the same collarbone that Forkner broke last year in qualifying at the third round of the 2021 250SX East Region

“Well, collarbone is broke.. but after watching how hard I hit I’m lucky it wasn’t worse,” he wrote. “Same one from last year just broke around the plate and through a couple screws. I knew it was broken as soon as I got up. I’ve just been dreading making the post about it, but I guess here it is. You know, I really was trying to make changes this year to my riding and my mentality to be ok with not being the fastest guy at every race, or settling for a 3rd or a 5th at times so I would be at every race and make it to the end of the season. And if that left me with a championship then great, but if not then so be it. But that’s why this sport is so damn tough because sometimes none of that matters and things just happen. Anyways, it is what it is. I do really appreciate all the support from everyone, it means a lot. I’ll be back.”

At this time it is not known how long the injury will keep Forkner sidelined.

Lawrence addressed the incident in the post-race press conference following the race:

“It sucks, what happened. I got wild,” he said. “I obviously didn’t learn my lesson from the first time I got wild once and I thought I could balls my way through it. But got a little sketchy in the whoops again. Most people saw what happened after. I don’t really like talking about it much because I feel gutted about it. Just a stupid mistake on my behalf of hitting a Tuff Blox and taking out another rider. Just pissed at myself. I really can’t say much. I’m sorry to the Forkner family, Austin, and his chick. I was looking forward to racing him this year, because I think a lot of people can agree he’s definitely one of the most talented guys on a supercross track, he has shown many times. I just feel sick about it, really. I don’t have much else to say about it.

“I went to the Alpinestars medic place and wanted to apologize. It’s a crappy feeling. I’m pretty sure if you had that happen to you, you’d feel gutted. Maybe taking a guy out in a turn or something, yeah, you’d probably feel not too bad, but taking a guy out like that and injuring someone, it’s a sucky feeling. I don’t wish that upon anyone else because I’ve been the last 30 minutes feeling like crap.”

Main image: Kawasaki