It was another dominating performance by Forkner at round six of the Eastern Regional 250SX Class. After qualifying with a fifth-place finish due to a first turn crash in his 250SX heat, Forkner made the best of a poor gate position pick and emerged from the first corner in the Main Event neck and neck with Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Mitchell Oldenburg.
Within two corners Forkner had established the lead and would not face a challenge for the next 15 minutes plus one lap. GEICO Honda’s Chase Sexton put himself into second before the first lap was completed; he had Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Martin Davalos pressuring him for the early laps but worked away from Davalos after five minutes of racing. Rounding out the podium was Monster Energy/Star Racing/Yamaha’s Justin Cooper, who was pushed off the track in a first turn pileup and charged hard, making his final pass on teammate Mitchell Oldenburg on the final lap.
“That heat race was mine, I gave it up,” Forkner said. “Pretty simple I just went into the first turn too hard, and that left me with like tenth gate pick. I’m not even sure, I think I got fifth, so ninth or tenth gate pick. I was so motivated, though, and I was so confident with my starts that it didn’t really matter to me where I had to line up, I was like, ‘It doesn’t matter, I’m putting the bike up front. If that’s a first or that’s a top three, either way I can work with it.’ Ended up getting the holeshot, I think; we were real close along the back section, me and a Yamaha guy, I’m not sure who it was. I made the pass stick in the rhythm section and just tried to ride smooth laps. I didn’t really get the chance to do that in the heat race because I was getting through guys, so it was good to get out front and do some laps. I was pumped. I mean, smooth is fast, it’s that simple, and that was my goal tonight. I’m a little sick… so I knew that I couldn’t over-push because I just really didn’t have the strength to do that tonight. So smooth laps, jumping through the whoops, that got it done tonight.”
Chase Sexton was asked about Forkner’s speed, “He was going for it. I just didn’t get that flow in the beginning. I was [in the] first heat and the whoops were perfect; I went out in the Main Event and I just, I honestly didn’t know what do to. I was struggling with the jump line, and he was gone. That was honestly probably one of my worst rides all year. But second is good, man, it’s annoying to get beat by the same guy every weekend. But I didn’t ride good so it was… We got I think three more rounds, so we’ve still got some time for that win and I’m looking forward to getting out and work on my sprint speed for the first couple laps and just go, because he’s really good at that when he gets out front. He rode really good tonight. It was good, I got a heat win finally, and second place isn’t too bad, I’m second in points now, so yeah, just keep moving forward and make some progress on the bike in this off time…”