At the Unadilla National, the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team had an eventful day. First, Austin Forkner qualified P1 in the first session of the day—something he said was a welcomed surprise. He would be bested by his teammate Seth Hammaker and Hunter Lawrence in the second session, but it was good to see Forkner fast—but not out of control—early on. Hammaker himself had a tip over that tweaked the bars some, but the squad was ready to race.
However, the motos would start and the team’s luck went south. Forkner went down early and was forced to pit for some repairs. Hammaker was running a solid second and even momentarily took the lead from Levi Kitchen. He was passed by Maximus Vohland and Hunter Lawrence, then a crash bumped Hammaker back into an eventual battle with Forkner...outside of a points-paying position. Jo Shimoda made his way into third, where he would finish, as Ryder DiFrancesco brought home a solid ninth and Carson Mumford finished 15th. Forkner came through 22nd, Hammaker 24th.
The second moto began, then was red flagged and restarted. On the restart, it was DiFrancesco holeshotting and leading laps out front. The #75 was shuffled back some but got to click off a handful of laps with the top five group for the first time in his young career. He would finish 12th but said the weekend as a whole was a big improvement. Shimoda was fighting on the last lap to make a pass on Hunter Lawrence for second place—which would shift him into the overall win. But the #30 was kept at bay and came through third. Shimoda’s 3-3 ended up fourth overall behind Hunter Lawrence’s 2-2, Levi Kitchen 1-5, and Justin Cooper’s 4-1. At the checkered flag, Forkner brought home a solid fifth place, as Hammaker came through eighth, and Mumford 13th. Luckily, it was a less eventful moto this go round.
Each of the riders on the roster—including sidelined Cameron McAdoo and Jett Reynolds—have delt with an injury(s) over the course of the season. The results might not show full story though, as there were improvements in different aspects. Here is what the squad had to say after the race, via post-race interviews and the Kawasaki press release.
Jo Shimoda | 3-3 for 4th overall
Racer X Online: All right Jo, walk us through your day here at the Unadilla National.
Jo Shimoda: You know, today I think I had a lot of actions during the race. Honestly, I couldn't remember it at all! But I think, I mean first of all, 3-3 for fourth, [Laughs] it's such a bummer, but I'm happy with my effort and I think, you know, keep pushing little percentage every weekend and going to help me on last few races. So, yeah, next week I'm going to try to do better. I mean, if not, we just keep moving. So, good day though. Happy with my efforts.
Like you said, you got the short end of the stick missing out on the overall podium with a solid 3-3. But you were fighting there it until the end of the second moto. If you made that pass on Hunter Lawrence, you would have gotten the overall win. You were not giving up there at the end.
Yeah. Yeah, not really an option for me, you know, like I just had to kind of send it like take a little more risk than any other lap. But yeah, it was such a bummer but whatever.
Anything else like that about the weekend or heading into next weekend?
Same mindset. Just try to get a start and push, just push to the end. Like, maybe if I would have take a little more chances in beginning, Hunter might not get around me. And that would put me into a good overall [position]. So, for sure, definitely there is stuff to improve and just have to get moving.
Ryder DiFrancesco | 9-12 for 8th overall
Racer X Online: All right Ryder, walk us through your day here at the Unadilla National.
Ryder DiFrancesco: First moto was good. Got a not so good start and then work my way up to about 10th, went down, went back pretty far and then actually rode good and got up to ninth. Big progress from the past couple of weeks. Just I think the race pace is a lot better and then I just pushed all the way to the end. And then second moto, got the holeshot. Haven't ran that pace yet this year. So, pumped up a little bit. Everything came a lot faster than I expected. And I will learn and it's something I haven't learned this year running up there. So, two more rounds left and hopefully we can build.
You mentioned the second moto and that start. That had to be a confidence boost to get up there and experience that pace and be up there with those front runners.
Yeah, I've always had really good starts. And through my amateur career, I probably holeshot at 90 percent of my races and I was waiting for one to come this year [Laughs] and it finally did. I think just having a little more confidence, starting middle [of the] start. I was starting more inside all year and kind of protecting to get like a top 10 start rather than a holeshot. And I think I learned something today that starting in the middle of everybody and giving yourself a chance to get the holeshot is worth it.
Anything else you'd like to add about the weekend?
No, it was a good weekend. It was one of my favorite tracks. Last year it wasn't as gnarly as this now, but dude, I had haven’t ridden something like gnarly like this in a long time. So, yeah, big improvement.
Austin Forkner | 22-5 for 11th overall
Racer X Online: Man, I feel like it's been tough coming back, but you're just not giving up. Just kind of talk me through it so far just today as well.
Austin Forkner: Yeah, I mean, obviously the last [race], Washougal, was pretty tough getting caught up in that dude's wheel. Millville was pretty relatively the most mellow race I've had so far, I guess. [Laughs] Eleven-nine, no real falls. It was pretty easy. Washougal I got in that dude's wheel in the first one and that was pretty brutal. I'm all good from that though now. But today in the first moto… I qualified really well, I was the fastest in first practice, which was surprising to me… [but then first moto] I cross rutted or lost my balance or something coming down the big hill on the back in one of those long runs. Throttle cable was all twisted, lever was down. The front number plate was hanging. So, I pulled in, they had to rip stuff off and fix everything and then I went back, and I was able to get back up to like 22nd. So that was pretty frustrating just because had one of those at Washougal too, just a bad no-point-scoring moto. Had another one today. So that was obviously not ideal, but second moto, better start even from the outside, got a pretty good start and probably seven or eight and worked up the fifth. So rebounded with my best moto of the season and a solid ride and a solid start and all that stuff in the second moto. I'll gladly take that.
Obviously, the speed is there because you were there that second moto. Do you have any goals or you just trying to finish out the season?
Yeah, I mean, really just get better each race. Today was a big step in the, I guess the second moto, was a step in the right direction. I mean, qualifying was a step in the right direction. It was really just that first moto that was bad today. So, cleaning up certain things like obviously, I need to be [better on] my starts, which it was there the second moto. Both starts because we had that red flag, but both starts I was top 10. So, where the first one, I was out I was probably 15 or so. So, starts need to be better and I mean, just getting better everywhere. Like I'll gladly take a fifth, you know, for not racing all year. Yes, I want the results to improve, but more so I just want to improve on myself, basically. I feel like I'm doing better each race. Even if the results don't necessarily show it, then I'll be happy with that. But most of the time if I'm riding better and doing better starts better, everything, the results will show that. But I'm just saying that it's not only about results but it's about how I feel on the bike feel during the moto fitness wise, everything if I can improve every weekend. And that's my goal as far as position wise. Yeah, I mean, top five and now after today, I feel like I belong in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh area range. And if one of the top guys makes a mistake or something, maybe I can sneak up and get a podium. So I guess that's where I think I should be. But like I said, it's just going based off how I feel.
Then finally, I see you’re all marked up. What would you grade Unadilla roost?
I didn't even run hand guards today and this finger is all swollen. I can't really bend this one. I have four that are all bruised, knuckles on this finger and like two on this one. I probably should have ran hand guards, now, I'm thinking about it. Yeah, I'm pretty tore up. I got a good one right there and I'm pretty much covered. But I would say Unadilla, on a scale of roost if 10 is the worst, I'll say a seven, because there's so many ruts that it's so hard to get out of the roost of somebody because, if you go into a rut behind somebody, you're locked in, eating their roots for a couple 100 feet, it seems like on this track. So, yeah, it wasn't great. Not running hand guards was the wrong move today. So, I'm paying for my knuckles right now.
Carson Mumford | 15-13 for 12th overall
“I had an okay weekend at Unadilla. I had decent starts and felt solid, but I need to limit the mistakes. Thank you to Mitch and the team for believing in me.”
Mumford posted on Instagram after the race:
"Dilla didn’t go as planned. Had a pretty good crash in the first moto and just struggled after that. Hungry to improve."
Seth Hammaker | 24-8 for 14th overall
“Unadilla was great until it wasn’t. I felt great in both qualifying sessions ending up second. I had a great start in Moto 1 and battling for the lead was fun. I went down pretty hard but got back up to 24th. Moto 2, I went out and tried my best and maintained fifth until a tip over and ended up eighth. A lot of positives but I wish the day would have ended better considering how good I felt on my KX™250. Time to get ready for Budds Creek next week.”