Austin Forkner Reflects on Rebuild Season in CNN Story: “(They) had to essentially kind of pull the front part of my brain out of my skull."

Austin Forkner was featured on CNN recently in a profile feature on his racing career and injuries. The article covered the Missouri native’s return to racing after a season-ending crash and brain surgery in 2024. Jonathan Hawkins did an excellent job on the write up, which is worth the read.

As mentioned in the article, Forkner is the winningest 250SX rider to never win a title, with 13 250SX wins. He won all 13 of those races to date with the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki team, then he switched to the Triumph Racing team for the 2025 season.

Related: Deep Dive on Austin Forkner’s Kawasaki 250 SX and MX Wins

On the outside looking in, the 2025 250SX season might have looked like a failure for Forkner: he finished 11th in the standings, with no podiums nor wins. While he did score 22nd at the season finale in Utah, for the first time in his career, Forkner finished a 250SX season healthy. Steve Matthes reported that Forkner’s chain came off in the finale main event, which caused his DNF. When you consider everything Forkner went through in the last 12 months—his season-ending crash in Texas last March, his brain surgery, switching teams, switching gear brands, moving across the country, and becoming a father—this season was a rebuilding year. CNN chronicles it all here. Mad props for Forkner for rebuilding himself once again and getting through the supercross season.

Read the CNN feature on Forkner