Image: Octopi Media.

Austin Forkner says the ‘speed is there to run up front’ following High Point, after a tough go at the first few rounds in his return to Pro Motocross for his first full season of outdoors since the 2018 championship.

With injury keeping him from Pro Motocross competition for the last two seasons, Forkner struggled in the first two rounds of his return. After taking eighth overall at Fox Raceway and 11th overall at Thunder Valley, Forkner rebounded with solid pace and consistency at High Point.

“Not a great start to the season for me,” Forkner explained. “Pala was ok, some little mistakes, and speed wasn’t quite there. I didn’t show up to Colorado, I mean the 38 bike was out there but I don’t know who was riding it cause that race was terrible.

“But at High Point I finally found my speed as I turned some of the fastest laps both motos. A fall on lap one in the first moto and being in the first turn pile up in the second kept me out of the top battles.

“So way back to 7th in moto 1 and basically last to 6th in moto 2. Trying to improve every weekend, been struggling a little but we’ll be [alright].”

Despite the hiccups through the beginning of the season, Forkner seems to have found what he needs to work on and will now have a weekend off before round four at RedBud on 3 July.

“Overall I felt good and know my speed is there to be running up front,” he continued. “I need to work through that first lap. It’s never easy riding through the pack and I think we showed that with a good start we could be with those guys. We have another off weekend to fine-tune everything and hopefully put it all together at RedBud.”