Photo Credit: Feld Entertainment
Detroit Michigan: It appears that Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider Austin Forkner is having fun riding and racing again. He won the first round of the Monster Energy 250 East Supercross when he led from the first lap to the checkered flag. He also seems to explain during the press conference that they found the culprit of why he has crashed, hence injured, in the past; it’s because he has always been fast, but sometimes the speed is beyond his riding techniques. His pre-season change, where he made former professional racer Ryan Hughes his trainer, was one of the best moves he made, as they focused more on reinventing his riding style by going back to the fundamentals and techniques.
Getting back from suffering painful injuries is one of the hardest mental struggles any rider could ever experience. The best riders in the world didn’t have many injuries; that’s why they were able to build consistently and improve. Having fear while riding is never fun. This is what Austin said about it during the press conference:
“To ride a dirt bike scared, at this level is – you can’t do it. So [we also worked on] just keeping the whole preseason [work] fun… We did quality work over quantity so much, and we kept it fun and kept me in a good mental space coming into this season, and I think it shows.”- Austin Forkner
This year, 2024, might be the year for Austin to finally win a championship. Now that he is a veteran of the sport and has learned a lot from his former mistakes and wrong head space, Austin is ready to claim his first supercross championship.
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