T Dog’s Takes: Austin Forkner WILL Prevail

Notice that this column now has a sponsor? That’s right! Troy Dog joined the Blu Cru and you should too! I have one in my garage right now and I can’t wait to go shred it! Thank you to Yamaha for believing in my ELITE columns on this dirt bike website enough to sponsor me. What a dream come true! BTW: Have you seen the all-new YZ450F? OH. MY. GOODNESS. I can’t wait to test that bad boy.

This sucks. It’s honestly the worst thing to watch in any sport. An elite athlete that makes a difference every game or race that simply cannot stay healthy. It gets to a point where you can’t even blame the athlete. The amount of work that Austin Forkner has put into his craft since he was a child is incredible. Racing this sport is what he was born to do from his talent, to his work ethic, to winning at the highest level. He’s been on top so many times, but he’s also been on the bottom more often than not here lately.

Forkner was supposed to be in Chase Sexton’s shoes right now. That was the way his trajectory was going in 2019 when he was leading the 250SX East Region Championship. Since then, Forkner has gotten hurt, been fast, gotten hurt, and so on and so forth. I’m not here to gripe about it or even talk about the “what ifs” or the “could have beens”. I’m here to talk about what is next. 

I will preface this with, I don’t know Austin personally, nor have I ever even had a conversation with him. I have covered his racing since he turned pro and I’ve watched every lap of his career. I’ve watched the ups and downs, the good and bad decisions in between. With that said, I truly believe that he will be back and he will be fast and he will win again. I know, not exactly the hottest take in the world, because he’s done this so many times already. 

What is it going to take? Mitch Payton has had Forkner’s back since he was on an 85cc at Loretta Lynn’s and he’s proven time and time again that he has had his back after so many setbacks. Does a fresh start on another team equal a different outcome? Or what about just washing his hands of the class and moving up to the 450 class? I believe he wouldn’t have a problem finding himself in that class and showing he’s capable of running in the top ten. 

RELATED: CARSON MUMFORD TO FILL-IN FOR AUSTIN FORKNER

So, where do we go from here? If you keep doing the same thing over and over you’re going to get the same results. So, in order for Forkner to truly get over this hurdle in his life I believe that it’s time to move on from Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki and start fresh with a new team. If a 450 ride comes around then he should definitely jump at that chance. He’s still young and has plenty of great years ahead of him. It’s also never too late to start fresh. He just turned 24 in September and you see the average age of the 450SX guys now. Maybe a change is in order. 

I hate to see anyone get hurt in this sport and Forkner definitely deserves some good luck to go his way. For the time being let’s all wish the best for one of the sport’s best riders and hope he comes back sooner than later. Get well soon, Austin. 

Main image: Kawasaki

Written by Troy Dog

Faster than Slaw Dog. Editor-in-Chief

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