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I’m not one of those who expected Jorge Prado to podium or better at the opening round, but I did expect him to score at least one holeshot. What do you think happened to him?
Listening to his interview, it seems like the ruts out of the gate might have thrown him off his game.
I’ve always thought the ungroomed start straight was dumb. It’s a 5 minute fix and I feel like it would do a lot for safety.
Not specific to the start, but could it be that that KXF just isn’t that good of a bike?
Dazza said that the ‘24 CRF wasn’t very good when they got their hands on it. (He blamed previous pilots lack of development..)
I can’t remember this KXF being very successful for a few years now.
It’s a shss as me we didn’t see Prado on an Austrian bike for at least one year in the US.
I agree. I think Prado should have signed with either of the Austrian trios when he got here.
Starts are all about confidence, and when he looked at timing and scoring after qualifying and realized that he needed to find about 5 seconds a lap, I bet that wasn’t very confidence inspiring. His starts in the few SX races he did were pretty good as I recall.
I’ve seen video of him testing at Pala, so he probably figured this might be the track he was best prepared for.
As for the bike, he was ranting and raving about how good it was in every interview after he signed. It’s the same bike he tested before he signed, so…
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I don’t know. Romain Febvre has been getting decent starts on his KX in MXGP this year….
Is there an example of a newly signed rider saying to the press his new bike was bad?
I wouldn’t trust much of what a rider tied in to a new contract has to say about his team & bike.
Shows how high his standards are when it comes to starts that we have a thread like this after one race where he got two Top 6 starts
He left KTM, I doubt he'll be the same rider on green
I mean, yes. But also he was gushing over the Kawi and what a night and day difference it was once. Maybe it was just lip service. His results would say it was. Maybe I'm out of touch but I think all these bikes are so good now. I dont see how any Factory bike can be "not that good of a bike." It's just up to the rider to set it up. I was at Red Bud when Prado gave Tomac the business on a 250f. I refuse to believe hes somehow a back of the top 10 guy all of the sudden
We have 40 riders on the gate in the US. The MXGP has about 12-15 that can actually ride and then some local fillers that may take up another 5-10 spots. It's a lot easier to get good starts when the field isn't full.
Yeah, tell that to Febvre.
THIS ^
He lined up next to Jett in moto 2 which is a great way to end up getting pinched or funneled back in the first turn. Jett is damn near an automatic top 2 starter
Prada’s had too much change all at once - bike, US, team, etc etc
Nah. There's plenty of GPs with 35-40 guys on the gate. You think it makes a difference if there's 5 or 20 dudes right of the dog house that are two bike lengths back going into the first corner?
I think the issue are the ruts behind the gate. He's not used to it. Same happened to Vialle.
I guess he didnt run a scoop tire either moto. You basically have to run the scoop tire now to get a great start and just deal with the tire the rest of the moto.
Is it safe to assume the Hunta brothers were both running scoops?
I thought they were starting on grates, so no ruts behind gate.
Pit Row
I did see the scoop on Jett’s bike 2nd moto in the post moto cool down area during the broadcast.
I like how everybody was saying the Yamaha 450 was no good. Then Eli got on one. Suddenly they are good!
Ferrandis, but yeah.
This has come up many times before - nowadays starts are all about the software package/launch control/traction control, etc. That's why there are advocates of doing away with all that and putting it back into the riders hands - making it a function of skill.
It's statistically impossible to pull off the starting consistency the Honda's have had with the Lawrence's if left entirely to the operators, with no electronic assistance. I don't know why everyone else isn't burning the midnight oil to even the playing field, because the race is usually over after the start nowadays.
In the early part of the SX season in '24 when Jett's results weren't living up to expectations, one of the Honda crew made a comment that Jett's problem was his starting position and that they were working on getting that fixed because of the direct corellation between starting and finishing positions. They did shortly after that and the two of them have been at the front almost every week since.
There's a reason a lot of people refer to it as StarterCross and it unfortunately has also become prevalent outdoors; with the tracks being difficult to pass on, the leader can largely dictate the race unless someone is significantly faster than them (or willing to try a high-risk pass or takeout move).
So in 2023 when Jett went perfect, shouldn't him and Chase have started every race 1 and 2, they were both on Honda's ?
We all know that wasn't the case, so I guess it still comes down to rider skillz.
No, it takes a LOT of skill out of the riders hands.
And we all should know the '23 season happened before the '24 SX season 😄 when the HRC rep made those remarks and they got the starting package dialed.
If that stuff didn't make a huge difference they wouldn't invest all the time, money and effort into it that they do. Do away with it to even the playing field - it's becoming too much like F1 with the tech.
If they are doing like they do in other forms of racing, they use the practice starts to fine tune the start map. Gives the engineers data to adjust the power for launch and acceleration to best suit the specific track. The rider still has to react well. HRC has the grate launch dialed and has figured out how to maximize the accel once over the gate.
Yes which often results in carnage taking down top guys, the good guys tend to all get out much cleaner in MXGP
Maybe I’m misunderstanding but are you saying Darren Lawrence’s believes it was Sexton’s fault that his kids didn’t like the bike? How does that make any sense?
Yall are overreacting. I’m not saying Prado will be a title threat and get every hole shot but let’s give it a few races before we press the panic button.
I guess mean in front of the gate. In the GPs they clean it up before each moto so there is less skill required
Absolutely ; I remember around 2011, we had new transfers with Musquin and Roczen, 2 riders who did great in 250 but were far from what they did in the GPs and far from what they did in 450 later in their career. I think it really takes a couple of years to get acclimated, so I am not too worried, it was still a solid result with this field, a very decent start and indeed, lots of changes. All I hope is he stays out of trouble and does all the rounds around the top 5 for a solid 5th in the standings, that would already be good, and perfect to make next year on the box. Step by step, there are some experienced and high calibers upfront. I also hope it is not 100 degrees 95% humidity every week end
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