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Gawddammit. I am crushed. Just read about his injury tally. Yes, could have been worse.
But still season ending. Again.
Austin, I sincerely hope you heal up and come back and WIN. I'm pulling for you!!!
Was looking so strong this season, seemed to have come on leaps and bounds with his maturity and patience and he looked like the prodigy he was touted to be in the past.
Gutted to see him go down like that, the crash and his face when he was walking away (somehow) with the neck brace on was just plain scary / heart breaking.
Arlington was a fantastic days racing *for the most part* but it's hard to get this out of your head isn't it.
It has nothing to do with being "badass." Someone brought Deegan into this thread and made it out like he was laughing and mocking Austin while he was down. He said it on the podium it sucks to see, and he made it pretty obvious that Forkner was the guy to beat. He saw him make mistakes, is that taking a dig at him? I don't think so. We come onto this forum and dissect every mistake during the mains. Maybe it was the "Danger zone" comment that was off-putting. Didn't he have that as a buttpatch last season? It wasn't an issue saying it when it was the "Dylan danger zone." in 2021. It's a shitty situation and it sucks to see Austin go through another huge recovery, but I don't see why Deegan is being brought into this and made out to be the bad guy.
Speaking of Jason Ciarletta, was it ever confirmed how he actually died? I think the prevailing theory at the time was that he went head first into concrete, which would be eerily similar to what happened to Forkner this past weekend. That in of itself may speak volumes about the increase in safety over the past few decades.
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What a weird hill to die on
Not crazy. There is no immobilization occurring other than a collar in that pic. He is in the hospital. No board present AND they have a pillow under his head and neck.
I didn’t read through the entire thread so im Not sure if this has been said.. but did anyone find it ironic that on TV just before his crash, his mechanic wrote on the board “MENTAL”. They are obviously trying to work on the mental side of things and his mechanic knew if it was going to happen it was going to be soon.. then he crashed. I almost wonder if he read that message and it actually took his focus off the rhythm and made him start thinking about thinking if that makes sense.
We are huge Forkner fans in our home and my whole fam just sat there in silence muttering the occasional “fuck” every few minutes. Totally bummed for him and wish him the best.
What does RC have to do with riders crashing lol?
I was telling my wife how I was pulling for the guy because he’d been through so much adversity then the crash happened. After a loud series of expletives, I just sat there stunned. Hope he makes a full recovery.
i had an opinion about the medical staff letting him walk then I remembered that I don’t know what I’m talking about.
His dad said he lost one of his contacts during the race and he thinks that may have affected him. As a former contact wearer I can totally see that. Depth perception is totally off when you lose one.
Truck vs C. Worthy
Ali vs Frazier
I've ordered pizza for you guys!
Agree a scoop would have been the go for me. The mechanism of that crash was more than a normal slip and fall. He fell from about 6 feet and at probably 30mph and landed on his head. Gotta remember those ABC’s tho “airway, breathing, can you walk to the ambulance?” Lol
I’m just here to say; they need to stop inserting the clips of him talking while the race is going on. It is truly an art to say so many words without making any sense.
99% of us on Vital don't know what we're talking about but it hasn't stopped any of us from making half-informed comments without the full story. Why should it stop you? Go a head and make some and then get lambasted by someone you've never met from 13 states away!! What's the worst that can happen? Blood pressure goes up by 40 points, start arguing the left says no one should have backboards and the right says it's all a conspiracy brought on by BIG NECK BRACE.
I think from a training point of view, both Ryno and almost everyone he has trained gets hurt a lot. Why?
My only though is their so much focus on unlocking and hips and unbracing the body (knee and neck brace), the riders becomes flexible ragdolls without the strength required to deal with an unexpected event on the track.
Watch tomac through this section vs Forkner. Forkner is unlocked and collapses on the bike, tomac has strength. Same with Jett. Even Deegs. Or Mcadoo.
Very lucky not to break his neck or back. This sport can be brutal for sure. Good to see him with no surgery and hope he can recover 100 percent.
I’ve seen this a few times on here and I just need to clarify that message is a keyword discussed by Austin and I that I write on the pitboard daily. Not a message I wrote on the board in panic. A mistake was made and I’d appreciate it if everyone showed some respect to Austin while he’s recovering and stop coming up with conspiracy theories.
Thank you for clarifying. Please wish Austin a speedy recovery.
Pit Row
While I see what you’re saying, this is a message board where we all talk about literally everything. Every opinion can be a “conspiracy theory” and honestly I think thats a douche take. I’ll continue to come to message boards to post my “conspiracy theories” and don’t need your permission to do so.
that being said, thanks for the clarification on the rest of it and as I said in my post You quoted, we are huge fans (of his) and wish him the best.
New around here, are ya? There's a good reason some of the clowns around here are affectionately labeled 'Vitards'.
And today's Fred Sanford award goes to...
I’ll double down on this. Agree with me or not, it was ironic that 8 seconds after the word MENTAL was put on the board he made a mental mistake. His mechanic can be offended all he wants I really don’t care. It was just an observation I had and it was a fact. Not a “conspiracy theory”. Let the coddling of an industry guy commence just because he posted on here 😂
As a contact wearer, I can attest that depth perception goes away when one falls out.
I was thinking about this today. I’ve straight up not raced because I didn’t have any contacts. I’ve recently had LASIK done and it was a life changer. If I raced a their level and had vision issues LASIK is definitely something I’d consider
Thanks for understanding 👍🏼
Thanks for trying to make an observation sound like I’m not being respectful. Gas light someone else
Never wanted to start a conflict here. I understand you feel very strongly about your opinion I was just stating mine. I’m glad you’re a fan, Austin definitely needs the support. Thank you.
We cool man. We really are fans. My son looks up to Austin a lot and admires his determination. He recently got hurt riding and wanted to quit but literally kept using Austin’s mindset and ability to over come injuries as motivation. Take care
Idk how this would not have drastically affected him. Depending on how bad his vision is it would be like riding with one eye closed. Supercross is all about timing and precision and having your depth perception jacked up will make that extremely hard. That could be why he “started making mistakes”.
I know its easy to say coulda shoulda woulda after the fact but damn man I wish after his contact fell out he just backed it down and brought it home safe. I’m sure after being injured over and over and over and winning the first race and then being out front again with the red plate that he was super excited and it must have felt so good go be on top of the world again after so long. Only to have his heart ripped from his body… again, damn man.
I’m sure he didnt want to give deegan any confidence, still though damnit if only he backed off. I remember Weege talking about how he talked to Jett about what he wants to learn from Eli, and Jett said the biggest takeaway from Elis last few seasons is when its not there he wont force it and will just take a 5th and wont freak out about it and change a bunch of settings and will just be calm and try again next week. It must be so hard in the moment to look big picture like that but hopefully austin can learn from this and be even better next year. If he had backed it off for a 2nd or 3rd and then explained that his contact fell out and he couldnt see I dont think anybody would have questioned it.
Ok kids take notes. This is called the “high road”. Its the one classy people travel.
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