And it is now official: Austin Forkner will not be racing for Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki in 2025. He has been linked to a new deal with Triumph, but that has not been announced yet. Today Forkner thanked Kawasaki for 14 years of support.

After a successful amateur career with Kawasaki Team Green, Forkner turned pro for the 2016 AMA Pro Motocross Championship and earned his first overall win at the season finale Ironman National. Forkner put in solid results in Pro Motocross, but he really excelled in Monster Energy AMA Supercross, where he racked up race wins and podiums and held the championship leading red plate in a handful of different seasons. The 2019 season will go down as a tough one for Payton's squad, as both the 250SX West Region (Adam Cianciarulo) and 250SX East Region (Forkner) had late miscues that cost each of them a title. Though the ups and downs and all of the injuries, Forkner sill showed up, gave his all, and was able to return and fight for race wins. A 250SX title has thus far eluded him, including another tough loss in 2020 after a season-long battle with Dylan Ferrandis. Forkner scored back-to-back wins in Salt Lake City to close in on Ferrandis in points, but needed to win the final round to win the title. He crashed out of the race trying to get to the lead.

Unfortunately, Forkner's 2024 season was all-too familiar: huge win to start the season followed by a horrible crash that ended his season. His win at the season opening Detroit Supercross was more smooth than prior wins though. He appeared effortlessly fast. It seemed he had harnessed his usual speed and really worked to clean up the small things to make it look easy. And same went for his main event at the second round in Texas, until with just a few laps to go, he had a big crash. This go round, the Missouri native was truly lucky for it not to be worse. Ejected off the bike and landing on the concrete with a large impact to his head/neck/shoulder, it was incredible to see him walking to the medical cart on his own feet. Read about his brutal crash late in the Arlington Supercross. Once again, his season was over and he was forced to rehab and recovery and build for the next season. Throw in an arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) and he added brain surgery to his long resume of surgeries. 

Note: Forkner earned national number #83 for 2025, his highest national number to date.