Mission accomplished and baptism by fire completed. This past weekend at the Greensboro Coliseum in North Carolina, Team Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki prodigy Austin Forkner managed to, one, win both 15-lap Amsoil Arenacross Class main events, and two, make the grade and complete his journey in Ricky Carmichael’s Road to Supercross. Now with the requisite points needed to go supercross racing in 2017, the 17-year-old sensation can now leave the hockey and basketball arenas of America behind him as he begins looking toward the starting gate of the Hangtown National this May and the launch of his career in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship.
Considered by many railbirds as the next big thing in U.S. motocross, the young Missouri-based rider has passed his first true test in the big leagues. Heading back home to Missouri before making a run to California next week where his outdoor program will be put into full effect, Racer X caught up with the number 214 rider.
Racer X: Austin, an obvious question here, but how do you feel about your two race sweep in Greensboro?
Austin Forkner: It was good. I got good starts and rode consistent laps and got away enough to where nobody got that close to me or could be in a position to be able to make a pass on me. I’m stoked. It was good. In the second main, I had to start on the outside because I picked the case that was the eighth one (Note: To determine the inversion of the start for the second main event). Still, I got the holeshot and was able to win. To win both races was great.
Yes, the starts are so critical in arenacross and you were able to use your good starts to you advantage. In other words, you were out front in clean air while a lot of the carnage was going on behind you.
Yeah, the start is really key in arenacross, especially on that track because it was pretty one lined. The whoops had one massive groove through the middle of them, so getting through them was really key. The start was definitely key, but you had to ride good and hit the lines and be smart because the track was getting really torn up and there was concrete showing in some spots. And there was a lot of carnage with a bunch of guys falling because the track was getting torn up. You had to watch for them and you had to be cautious.
For a young guy like yourself who grew up racing on outdoor motocross tracks, to go and race on a small, confined track in an arena has to be like an almost entirely different sport.
Yeah, it was just really tight. I think Greensboro was even more tight than Allentown was. I think the arena was a little bit smaller and the turns were a lot tighter. We had to do a few things to the bike in Greensboro to get it to feel right, but after we did that, it was a lot better and I rode really good and adapted to the track pretty good.
How do you dial the bike in for an arenacross race? I’d assume you want the bike to turn and pivot and optimally as possible.
Yeah, you want it turn really, really sharp, but not too sharp, and then get into tucking, like the front end tucking. I was really picky about the front end because we were trying to get the bike to turn sharper, but not too sharp. The bike was also a little bit too stiff for how the track was breaking down and getting holes in and stuff. I could feel a lot of that in my hands, so my mechanic made some changes to the bike and it was way better for the main.
Do you shift gears that often in an arenacross race, or do you just throw it in second and leave it there?
It’s pretty much second everywhere except the straightaway, where you would shift up to third and run third gear in the whoops. It was second gear everywhere else. I guess it was about half the track in third and half of the track in second. I don’t think I ever got out of those two gears.
As far as your riding skill set and using it in arenacross, did you have to use some of your skills maybe more than others?
You just had to not make any mistakes. A Greensboro lap time was maybe only 21 or 22 seconds, so if you made a mistake, there weren’t really too many places to make the time back up. It was a short track so if you made a mistake, you’d lose half a second. If you made a half-a-second mistake two laps in a row, then that would be like losing a second and a one second lead on an arenacross track is quite a bit because everything is so tight and everybody stays pretty close together. It was pretty tough to do that at Greensboro because the track was breaking down.
Was the on-track racing as aggressive as you expected it to be?
To pass, you have to be aggressive in these races. Like, you have to cut the other guy off and not leave him room, but that’s just the way you pass. I didn’t really get passed that much, but whenever I did, it wasn’t a dirty pass, but it was aggressive. It didn’t make me mad or anything because that’s the way you have to pass in arenacross. Whenever I passed guys, that’s the way that I passed them too. It was aggressive, but for how tight the track was and how tight the arena was, it just kind of has to be like that. Like I said, I never had any dirty passes made on me and I never made any dirty passes on anybody else. There’s a difference between being aggressive and being dirty, but these guys are doing this for their job and to make a living, and I was just there to get my points. They obviously didn’t want me to come in there and beat them. They were aggressive but not dirty. It was actually pretty tough to race those guys and those guys make it even tougher because if you’re a kid going through the Road to Supercross, they don’t want to get beat by you. They want to show you that arenacross is tough. They kind of did that, but I mean they just rode me how they would normally ride everybody else.
How was the vibe off the track and in the pits?
It was good. I pitted with the Babbitt’s guys and I had already been training with Gavin Faith at Ricky’s so I knew him. I also knew [Jacob] Hayes and [Chris] Bose so it was good and we were all good. Everybody was pretty friendly. I already knew Kyle Regal and [Gared] Steinke and they were both cool. Everybody was pretty friendly and they all respect each other. It was all good. It was good to have my mechanic Ollie there and also my parents and [Team Green manager] Ryan Holiday there.
How many more of these arenacross races do you have to do?
I’m done now. All I needed was three points. I got two of my points at the first race I did in Allentown and I got my third in Greensboro. I got one point for making the main at the first race at Allentown and then another one for getting a top 10. All I needed to do in Greensboro was make the main and I did that. So I have all three of my points now and I’m done.
So you’re finished with arenacross now?
Well, right now I have to get ready for outdoors because I’m doing Hangtown and I’m doing the Daytona and Freestone Spring Nationals for amateurs. I was planning on getting my points as soon as I could just because I have to get ready for all that stuff. It’s over now, but I might go back and race it later because it was kind of fun. For now, I’m focusing on outdoors and then supercross after that. I had fun, but I’m glad to get out of there without getting hurt. I’m glad to get all my supercross points, but I’m actually kind of glad I did it because I learned some things.
So after doing arenacross, when you get out on a big outdoor track, are you going to need a map to find your way?
It will definitely be different because I’ve been training for arenacross for about two months now, which is about the longest I haven’t ridden an outdoor track. I’m excited to get back on an outdoor track.