Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/713106
INTERVIEW AUSTIN FORKNER P84 five-, six-, seven-lap motos so it's a sprint for that whole time. That's kind of how it is in the beginning of the motos of pro, but everybody kind of settles down and settles in. You can't sprint the whole moto. It'd be really hard to go 30-plus-two at a sprint pace. You kind of just set- tle into a groove. But in amateurs it's a full sprint. The motos aren't that long, but however long they are, you sprint the whole time, the exception is Loretta's. But all the other races it's just full-on sprint for the whole moto and getting sketchy. "Slamming guys, that's kind of part of it. So that's really about the same as it is in the pros. Mainly, just that there are a lot of good guys. A lot of guys have good bikes and a lot of them are fast and can do well. In the ama- teurs after a bad start I could still come through the pack and get up there and for sure get top- three and maybe even win. In the pros you're not going to do that. You're not going to come from last and win. It's just not the way it is." Yet, Forkner has proven that he can make passes even in the pros. What's his secret? "People have told me that I'm able to anticipate what guys are going to do before they do it. So, if we're going into a turn, and I think he [the guy ahead of him] is going in a little bit too fast, I'm going to shoot for the inside and I'm going to get him there. Just little stuff that I see, that the guys in front of me are going to do and that I can anticipate it and make the pass. My starts were really good in amateurs but not all of them were. I've been in first-turn pileups and had to come through the pack. So I think I'm just good at passing people. I'd rather learn to pass guys in amateurs than get every single holeshot and not know how to pass. So it's good." Not only is it impressive that Forkner is doing so well on the outdoor circuit, but he's doing it on tracks that he's never ridden before. "I'm pretty good at adapting to tracks quickly. Getting the jumps dialed and stuff is the easiest part, pretty much. It's more like seeing what turns are going to learn it as quickly as those guys." Forkner says that just because he's a rookie, doesn't mean he's going to let people shove him around on the track. "No, I'm not going to let them push me around. If they do some- thing to me, if they are going to ride me hard and try to clean me out, then if I can catch back up to them I'm going to ride them the same way. I'm not intimidated by them at all. I'm not going to inten- "THE AGGRESSION THOSE GUYS HAVE IS A LITTLE BIT MORE, AS FAR AS SLAMMING YOU IN THE TURNS AND DOING STUFF LIKE THAT." be outside in, sweeping turns, and if the outside's faster or if the inside's faster. So you kind of just have to guess sometimes, but sometimes you can just tell what the fast line is going to be. I feel like I'm pretty good at seeing that and being able to pick out fast lines and learn tracks quickly. You got to learn the track fast and you got to get it done. That's been kind of tough, but we're all riding the same track. I just got to