Slaw
After just one season, Jorge Prado and Monster Energy Kawasaki decided enough was enough. The relationship was not going to work, and despite inking a multi-year deal last off-season, Prado was able to get out of his contract and is expected to move back to the KTM Group with Red Bull KTM in 2026.
A multi-time World Champion in Europe, Prado coming to the U.S. was among the most highly anticipated moves during the offseason. Yet, the Spanish champion made only two Monster Energy Supercross starts before a shoulder injury and his return in Pro Motocross was a disaster.
The King of Supercross Jermey McGrath, a current ambassador with Kawasaki, was recently on the Jaxxon Podcast and he did not hold back on what he thought went wrong, saying he felt Prado was “not trying” and that we wanted to get fired.
“I don’t know a lot about this situation,” he said. “I only have to go by as a fan. I hear a little bit of things here and there. And we could all see what was going on. It was painfully obvious that he was not trying. He was trying to get fired, whatever he was trying to do.
“Here’s the situation from being in this arena. Jorge Prado came from Europe. He came from a works bike works KTM, which means they can change anything they want on those bikes over there in Europe. They can change chassis. They can change any part, everything… We in America have a production rule. You have to use a standard chassis. You can put a lot of custom parts on the bike, which we see with the race guys, but the bikes are quite a bit different. Even if he went from Europe’s KTM, his race bike over there that he’s won with the last couple of years to Chase Sexton’s KTM this year. It’s going to be different. It’s a totally different bike.
“In my opinion, he came over here. He signed the contract. ‘Oh, the bike’s good.’ The bike’s good. There was no complaints when he was signing the deal. And then here we go on racing and you start to get your ass beat and then you got problems. And then you’re pointing the finger. First of all, I don’t like people that point the finger at someone else, right? You’re in charge of this. You signed it. Your team agreed, this was all okay. Let’s go racing.
“To me, I don’t have to sugarcoat it, it is bullsh*t the way he was treating Kawi. To disparage Kawi and Monster like that on a world stage. You know, he really sold everyone on the fact that he could come over and kick everyone’s ass. We know the real story now.”
Check out the entire clip below:
Not to mention that it has come out that Febvre rode and won the MXGP Championship this year on a KX that Takeshi stated would meet the U.S. production rule., I.e., basically the same bike that Prada was unable to adapt to…