Forkner wins Monster Energy Cup

Nevada Daily Mail

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- The Monster Energy Cup returned to Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday night, holding a race like none other.

Monster Energy Kawasaki Team Green rider and local resident Austin Forkner stole the show by sweeping both races in the Supermini class and was the only rider to win more than one race all night. Adam Cianciarulo made his debut on the KX250F, winning the second race of the Amateur All-Star class and finishing second overall.

With $1 million on the line, reigning champion Monster Energy Kawasaki's Ryan Villopoto made his return to racing and blew away the field in the first main event of the night, but could not repeat his Monster Million performance, finishing 10th overall. Monster Energy Kawasaki's Jake Weimer ran as high as third during the main events and finished 13th overall.

The Monster Energy Cup rivals Loretta Lynn's as one of the highest profile amateur races of the season, but the scale of the event never fazed Forkner.

Hailing from Missouri, he did not have any supercross tracks to prepare on, but because the Monster Energy Cup track is a hybrid of both motocross and supercross, Forkner concentrated on more technical motocross tracks. He qualified second behind his Team Green teammate Mark Worth and decided to choose the left side gates of the split start for the first race.

Forkner got a great jump off the start on his KX100, grabbed the holeshot and immediately tried to build a gap on the field. Each lap of the six-lap race, he was able to put time on the field and won by more than 6 seconds.

In race two, Forkner stuck with the same gate he used in the first race and rounded the first turn in second place. He pressured the leader for three laps before making his move on lap four.

Forkner took the win, ending a near-perfect night. Of all three classes at the Monster Energy Cup, Forkner was the only rider to be consistent enough to win two races.

"It was so cool to be up on top of the podium," said Forkner. "The whole stadium was going nuts, I could even hear them on the track. My phone has been blowing up with messages and missed calls from all my friends. It was a great race. I jumped off the side of the finish line on one lap so that was pretty sketchy, but other than that I was smooth. I think supercross suits my style."