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Wait - It was put back in?!?! 😂
His brain was on the table 😂
He is consistently around 21-22 place in practice, and usually where he has ended up in the motos. Strange indeed.
Of course, he's got talent. He's never going to get back all the time hes missed though. You think his celing is the same now as it was when he turned pro almost 10yrs ago? You think hes ever going to challenge Chase Sexton, a guy he smoked on a 250, on a 450? I dont think so.
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Sadly, and by no fault of his own, I’m afraid Forkners ship has sailed. If anyone had any compassion, they’d do their best to steer him clear of the sport before he ends up getting hurt beyond repair.
Wow. I certainly don't believe his ship has sailed. Championships, probably. But in SX, a couple top 5's are certainly possible, and a 3rd to 5th place in overall SX points on either coast is certainly possible.
You're writing him off way too early. There are about 30 plus riders in SX on both coasts that would kill to have the results he can still achieve.
The crashing leading to injuries are kinda faults of his own
True, but the brain surgery thing was not his fault. In fact, he was lucky to have crashed in order to have the examination in which the brain issue was discovered. It was something that might have never given him trouble, or it could have killed him.
I might get flamed here, but I am genuinely proud of Austin.
The guy has a career of heartbreak and literal near death experiences. Instead of throwing in the towel because of his poor results (poor for him) or even worse, riding over his head and getting hurt again, the dude is just straight up building.
Building confidence, building consistency, building stamina...all of it.
Alot of us on here have harped on Austin for being checkers or wreckers, and the one time he is actually showing true patience, he gets shit on for it.
I genuinely hope Austin can finish the season healthy, have a healthy of season, and get a fair shake next year. If at this time in 26' the results are the same, that'll be a different conversation, but for now, I am proud to see the dude put motos together!
He gets a pass from me until next year for sure.
He has no confidence.
If he can stay off of the ground and build his confidence than I think he can get back to challenging for wins.
I agree 100%… confidence plays a huge role at any level…..
Hes out there making a good living. Im not the greatest at my job but im out there grinding away !
I hope he has a great 2026.
He turns 27 in September.
Some of those tattoo choices make me wonder 😂
But really though, I think highly of Austin and wish him well. He’s a nice guy and I’m still rooting for him
Crash as hard as he has a couple times……it will take time to ride without thinking!
I was out at the Elsinore sx track before the 2019 season and Austin was there riding and in between sessions I went up to talk to him and chit chat. We ended up talking for about 5-10 min and he was pretty cool to talk to and was pretty open actually. I asked him if he had any other offers before the year and he said he had an offer from Star Yamaha but turned it down because they didn’t have a good 450 program at the time (the 450 program was under the factory Yamaha umbrella, not Star). Mind you this was like right before he went and won like 6 straight in sx against Sexton before he tore his knee up. Man I wonder what he would’ve done on a Star 250 and what his career would look like. He was walking Chase in SX at the time.
hopefully no more head knocks......his career has had an inverse trajectory for several years now.
He's still mid 20's ??? so maybe a year off may be in order.
Pit Row
He had fucking brain surgery. Let that sink in a little bit. For some insight on how gnarly this is, watch the Netflix "Full Swing" episode with Gary Woodland. No disrespect to golf, but our sport is a whole nother level of physical. On top of this, having a first child. Cut the dude some slack.
That's basically what this year is. He's not pushing any limits and trying to stay healthy to build. This is what a build year looks like, just do the motos and everyone is freaking out.
Just let him work through things. Only he knows what is going through his head. Ride this year and if it feels better, dial it up next year.
Totally agree with this. While he might not have a race-winning ceiling at the moment, he certainly has more in the tank than he has shown us this season. I truly believe he's swallowing his pride/ego and taming it down in order to get as many race hours under his belt as possible. That is a hard thing to do for competitors, so I commend him for it.
He turns 27 in September
I love that he proved me wrong. Great ride!
top 10 ❗️ 🗣️
So happy to see him in the top 10
I can't believe people are questioning his results, as if he just came back from ankle surgery. The fact that he's even out there and finishing motos is a win.
He has been improving weekly outdoors. Last week I believe he had an issue then another good ride.
I remember he did really good at Washougal in his rookie year back in 2016, hope he has a breakout ride next week.
My guess is he locks in this off season and comes out swinging in 26’ East Coast SX. We all remember how great he was in 23’ before the big get off.
JMart proved to us today that no matter how many setback & injuries you deal with, a winner always finds his way back to the top step. I still believe he’s capable of getting a 250 SX Championship & nothing will change my mind on that. Guys come back completely transformed from one year to the next & it happens all the time.
Both for the good & bad.
Post a reply to: Forkner