In 2019 Forkner had the 250 title in the bag and got hurt, leaving Chase to be the title winner.
Fast forward 6 years, Forkner still hasn’t won that elusive title, yet Chase went on to be a 450 Champ.
Jett wants 72 wins and is fast as shit right now, but with him out for SX, this is the second consecutive series he will miss due to injury. This sport can change things so fast, look at guys like stew, who was ridiculously fast but often hurt and only won 2 indoor titles, nowhere near as many as everyone thought.
Then we see guys like TP or AC that had all the talent in the world but couldn’t stay injury free.
Everyone thinks Jett will dominate or the sport will be boring forgets how brutal this sport can be, with Jett missing the second consecutive series, what if something happens outdoors too?
Was just talking about this with a friend. Will Jett push through his sophomore woes and end up back on top or will he see the same fate as these other potential fast kids who were poised to win multiple championships?
It was said when he hurt his thumb during last summer but this may actually be a positive for him where his body can rest a bit and it prolongs his career.
Low key love that this really made the series wide open and these current top 4 all have a chance to win this thing.
In the days of McGrath and early days of RC, Reed, it was 2 Strokes and a LOT less injuries. Ever since 450' the chance of a long term career with no injuries is very slim. 72 Wins, 24-0 Seasons will be hard to come by.
Forkner won the 2018 Tampa 250 class main, for what it's worth
RC had a knee done, RV had a knee done, Ken’s injuries are notorious, Tomac made meatloaf out of his shoulders, Stewart bounced off the ground like a ping pong ball almost every race it seemed. These guys all know one thing. Get up, dust yourself off, heal up and go again. Seems a lot of people are thinking Jett will be diminished or not be able to come back and kill it is just stupid. Moto fans seem to have very short memories anymore. Jett just went 24-0 a year and a half ago. Wouldn’t shock me if in a few years he did it again either.
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You’re right in a few separate ways there. Also, Jett went 24-0 as a rookie.
No one is denying his ceiling, he could very well surpass everyone’s records. Or he could have injuries again and again like other Phenoms have had. That’s just how brutal this sport can be
The sport is indeed brutal. I don't read much into this injury. Such a freak thing, dabbing his foot and tearing his ACL. I haven't seen it discussed much in all the current Jett injury talk about his 450 career but his crash at Hangtown was the one that was dumb and unnecessary. There was no need or reason for him to send that jump. His riding was definitely compromised after that and i wonder if that snowballed into the thumb injury. I think he only did a collarbone on 250's,, as far as injuries go. This could definitely be a tipping point in his career moving forward. As much as we want to see him this summer, it won't be a smart move to rush back. And I would hope part of the training program moving forward is to put some muscle on his lanky frame.
With every injury there is a little more doubt and hesitation in your psych ….Jett will be fine, he is young and dumb.I mean that in a good way….
I’m on the Forkner wagon no shame in that game
Good example of this is Cole Davies, 4 races into his pro career and he's already getting pressure to be the next thing.
Jett was fast as shit in qualifying. That’s like saying your the best at practice 1 main win out of 4. Wouldn’t say that’s fast as shit.
I don't want to bag on him while he's down but consider all the times he's crashed or landed on a tuff block and got away with it. He is good enough to have more patience and not rush it so much. He dd great following Tomac.
Not to be that guy, but 22-0 sir. Still quite the feat.
Eli, Chase, Kenny, Webb, Anderson have upped their game and I don’t think Jett was quite ready for that.
For old times sake, flame away!
Don’t forget Herlings, fast AF but injuries derailed many of his championship hopes also. Raw speed is only one part of the equation…that’s why when these team managers say “we can work with speed” they might want to start looking at some of the other tangibles…
Maybe they'd only been riding at 80%? 😄
Haha...not flaming, my post is even more reason for the flamethrower...
I wonder, is Jett still super dedicated and excited over mx/sx or has the many other opportunities in life caught his interest?...and I'm not talking about women...just other hobbies, other jobs, other adventures. Now this doesn't have with the injury to do, but I agree, Eli, Chase, Kenny etc seem to have caught Jett at least 'a little', even if we did quali 1sec faster in Glendale.
I cannot shake this taught, seems even Hunter is more into mx/sx than Jett... and I have NO no evidence to back this up, just gut feel
While part of it has to do with the 450s, I think that a bigger factor has to do with the tracks being built to ‘flow’ more and the ability to maintain higher speeds.
Going back to an early to mid 80s style track with no real rhythm to it would slow things considerably and reward riders with the best throttle control. But it wouldn’t have the ‘wow’ factor of the riders soaring over triples and quads that most fans want to see.
I’d be okay if the 450 class actually had significantly slower lap times than the 250 class but required more finesse, but I don’t think that would sell as many tickets or have as many people tuned in, unfortunately.
Pit Row
With Jett out the title is wide open.
I'd say it's Chase's but as we know...anything can happen.
I think most will agree, Jett is the fastest most of the time. Same has been said about Jeffrey Herlings and his path has not been the smoothest. Stew was the fastest at his time also. Not saying this is Jett's future but it takes more than raw speed to win championships. He has good mentoring but you create your own luck. Personally I'd rather be lucky than good.
I don't know how people can continue to say Jett's the fastest when statistics don't support that. Yes, he is very fast at times. Through 4 rounds, he was fastest qualifier 2 times, but Chase Sexton was also fastest qualifier 2 times. Of the 6 races (Rounds 1-3 plus 3 triple crown races), Jett had the fastest single lap time in 2 races by very slim margins. ET3 had fastest single lap times in 3 races. Chase had fastest lap time in 1 race. Overall race wins, Jett - 1, Chase - 2, ET3 - 1. Kenny is right there 2 with lap times and nearly winning. No one denies Jett isn't fast. But saying he's THE fastest is fanboi speak.
These comments annoy me, it wasn’t a forgone conclusion Jett was going to win, he wasn’t even leading the points, could he win? Absolutely, but so could Chase, Coop or Eli..
Its the eye test.
Best check your eye tester, it appears to need some calibration 😛
Because all the other top guys have stated he is the fastest guy and the one they have to beat to win the championship.
Of course they say that, don’t want the wrath of the fans to come down on them
This is the perspective I’ve had since A1. The competition has stepped it up.
Sad that we don’t get to see the seasons worth of all the top dogs…. But we’re still in for a great SX season.
Not to be that guy but he went 1-1 at the opening round the following year as well 😉 ✌🏽
In my opinion if you go back and look at Jett’s bike the first three races and compare it to Glendale the bike looked much more settled especially through the whoops. It looked the they were getting the bike closer to where Jett was comfortable and could push. Hard to say if the competition pick it up or if HRC was still getting the bike dialed. All that can be done now is to argue about it on the internet.
All riders go through bike changes, although few with as extreem differences as Chase did last year. Kind of funny that Jett fans cut no slack to Chase last year and tried to devalue Jett’s SX wins or title…but this year when HRC goes from one model of Honda to a new model of Honda that the Lawrence’s had major input on…and rode for half of last year (MX, SMX, MXDN, Paris, WSX) but now blame lack of wins on the bike. Sorry, at least be consistent.
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