Slaw
Aside from Chase Sexton, arguably no result from the opener was more surprising than that of Jorge Prado. It was a strange day for the multi-time World Champion in his U.S. Pro Motocross debut. Not necessarily bad—just unforgettable. And yet, when you take a step back, maybe it was exactly what you’d expect.
Consider this: Prado was racing a new series for the first time, a new track, on a new bike and is coming off an injury. No excuses–but these things matter. Listen to any rider coming over from the GPs and they will tell you it is hard to adjust to the format. In Europe, you get ample time to practice, qualify, practice and race and race again. Not here. Two qualifying sessions and off you go. That’s a tall order when you are trying to dial in a new series.
While no one is panicking—or even thinking these results will become the norm—even Prado admitted he was disappointed.
“Round 1 is done here at Fox Raceway and I’m a little bit disappointed,” he said in a Kawasaki press release. “I expected more, but realistically, it’s fair that we struggled. I’m coming off an injury, and on top of that, I’ve never raced outdoors on the Kawasaki. We only had four weeks on the new bike, trying to build a setup, so it’s normal that it wasn’t 100%.
“But that’s the mentality of a racer—you always want to be battling up front,” he added. “And as a World Champion, even more so, especially when you’re used to it. Still, the season has started. We got some good feedback, we know what to work on, and hopefully the next rounds will be better.”
Following a seventh in the first moto, Prado followed it up with a sixth in the second moto for sixth overall in his debut.
“Qualifying was okay—nothing crazy,” he said. “I was trying to push a bit to get a better start. I made some passes on the first lap, but then I lost the rear wheel of the rider ahead and had to push to the end. I was catching the two guys ahead of me in the final laps, but it wasn’t quite enough. The second moto was P6—a little better than the first one. Small steps. I did my best, and that’s what counts.”
The next two rounds may look similar, but once we head East and hit more Euro-style tracks like High Point, don’t be shocked when Prado starts mixing it up at the front.
Main image: octopi.media
