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Premier class debutant Austin Forkner left Anaheim 1 in an analytical state of mind after his maiden 450SX start on Saturday night, the Triumph Factory Racing rider largely balanced on his P15 result in the main event.

Forkner was promoted to the 450 division while team regular Jordon Smith continues to recover from shoulder surgery, debuting Triumph’s TF 450-X in Monster Energy Supercross competition at Angel Stadium.

The experienced 27-year-old qualified 18th and finished seventh in his heat race, before recording 15th in the main event despite being involved in the frightening Justin Barcia/Malcolm Stewart incident and later experiencing a front brake issue following the restart. There was a lot to unpack post-race.

“Made the main straight out of the heat, so that was good,” Forkner told MotoOnline. “I mean, I wasn’t really that stoked on it, but some of the team members were like, yes, straight out of the heat into the main, first race on a 450 for the Triumph.

“I kind of expected that, but there were some factory guys that didn’t make the main tonight, so that’s… I mean, there’s like 19 factory guys in the 450 class right now, so it’s a pretty stacked class, but it was good. The main was good. I was in the crash with Malcolm and Justin.

“I don’t know if that led to my issue, but then on the restart, I had a front brake issue. Because I got a pretty good start – I came out about as good as I could – and like second or third lap, my front brake started locking up in the air over some of the jumps. And I was like, ‘Uh-oh, I’m gonna have to pull in’. I just slowed down and tried to adjust it to see if that would help, and it did. I didn’t pull in and I rode with it like that.

“After that, I lost a bunch of positions, though. And from there, I mean, the thing I was just playing with a little bit was, was the length of the main and kind of like, somebody would catch me and then I would push and I’d make a couple of mistakes. The longer main in the 450 class, there’s a lot of cat and mouse.

“I think I should have been a little bit closer to where Colt [Nichols] was when he was 13th – I just made some mistakes, got passed by a couple of guys. I had the pace, you know, like I was seeing them and I had the pace to be up there, but I just feel like it could have been a better race for me and I would have been a little bit closer to that 10th to 13th place area… 15th on the night, can’t really complain. We can only do better from here.”

Developing the factory TF 450-X is the primary objective of Forkner while filling in for the injured Smith, which he and the Triumph Factory Racing team collected a significant amount of data in their first premier class appearance together.

“We learned a lot,” he explained. “And we’re going to… we already have ideas to start testing once we get back to our place. And starts were good, because I’ve been struggling with them a little bit at the facility, but starts tonight were, like, flawless. So yes, we did learn some stuff. We’re going to work on it this week, and I learned some stuff about myself on the bike as well, so we’re all just learning. We’re learning as a team.”

Forkner is expected to contest at least the opening six rounds of the 450SX season prior to Smith’s anticipated return at round seven in Arlington. At that point, Forkner could revert to the 250SX category in time for the eastern division opener, unless the decision is made for him to remain in the premier class.