Image: Supplied.

Austin Forkner’s return to action at this weekend’s Pro Motocross opener following a crash that sidelined him for all of Supercross will be injury-free after a lengthy recovery.

The Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider’s crash in Houston 2 resulted in a broken collarbone that required surgery, but a speedy recovery allowed him to spend ample time preparing for the outdoor season.

Forkner is now entering his fourth Pro Motocross championship in the 250 class, his first since 2018 after missing the previous two with injury, and while he hasn’t lined up for a race, he hasn’t spent much time away from the motocross track.

“I actually have ridden quite a bit of outdoors in the past couple of years, even though I haven’t raced it, I’ve ridden quite a bit,” Forkner explained. “When I came back from my knee [injury] I rode at least two or three months of outdoors before I started riding Supercross again.

“I feel good, but that’s the thing, I felt good last year, felt good the year before, I just haven’t raced so I don’t really know where I fit in.

“Every year it’s different with who’s fast and who [are] the guys to beat, but I’m not really worried about anybody in particular, I’m just going to in and see where I fit in the mix.”

Recently Forkner acknowledged that he’s going to need to be smart going forward and ‘back it down’ when necessary, something he’s learned from his injuries in recent years.

“I’ve just taken what I’ve learned from each and every kind of thing that’s happened, learned from it, and tried to apply it to my racing the best that I can,” he continued. “I’m excited for this year and I’m excited to be coming in pretty healthy, I don’t really have any lingering injuries right now, so yeah, I’m excited.”

His first chance to see where he stacks up after his hiatus from the Pro Motocross starting line comes this Saturday, 29 May, at Fox Raceway in Pala, California.