Prado's Green Turtle...

Exactly. Lack of power isn’t the problem here.

Just put orange plastics on the bike....call it good

If you believe HP is the problem with Prado, youre probably new to the sport....... or incredibly gullible 

Kawi will get him a different engine. The request will go to Japan. Meetings on what to build will occur. New parts will be developed and go through a rigorous test protocol. The test riders in Japan will race them for more durability testing and they will be modified and testing repeated until Japan signs off. Be ready for Budds, or perhaps A1. 

I think the problem is jett, Eli , AP, JC,RJ, Hunter and a couple of others for the moment🤫🤔

Prado? 😂😂😂

My takeaway from the JT audio snippet posted in one of the other 7 threads; the bikes not slow, the power just isn’t where Prado wants it to suit his riding.  

I guess you are new to the sport also then.

Torque is more important than HP on 450 and when it makes the torque. Kawi down prioritized torque to meet the new sound requirements for the new bike.

You can pretty much always create more peak HP, but torque is much more difficult, specially getting it in the right place.

Torque is what makes the bike feeling light and not sluggish. Not HP.

Kawasaki’s racing program — at least from the outside looking in — feels like it’s managed from the corporate boardroom down, not from the dirt up.

ET pushed for changes, didn’t get what he needed, and left for blue — and the results spoke loud and clear.

JA seemed content with the paycheck, played the role, and kept most of the criticism quiet until the CS situation surfaced

AC leaned into the full corporate identity — polished, marketable, but now he’s transitioned out and is thriving in the broadcast lane where he can say more without risking the ride.

And now JP walks into the same structure with elite credentials and expectations, and finds himself in the same holding pattern.

Honestly, it’s starting to look a lot like Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari — undeniable talent, but surrounded by systems that prioritize brand control over pushing the competitive edge. When performance stalls and the machine around you doesn’t bend… you either wait patiently or speak up. Prado’s doing both — but for how long?

It's not just the bike's power. There's more going on. How else do you explain 2 PC 250s beating him in qualifying? You're telling me his bike is slower than a PC 250? Come on? 

This is what I'm thinking.  I honestly know next to nothing about MXGP.  Are the tracks prepped as wet and deep in Europe as they are here?  I wonder if that is causing him some problems if he's not used to it.  I know it sure took me a long time to get used to the deep, rutted tracks in the midwest (Red Bud, Lincoln Trail) after moving from Southern California.  

Some tracks are very deep and sandy but on average they don't get tilled as deep as they do here. Tend to get more 1-lined too. 

Has to be major chassis issue or injury. HP does not explain his performance. I'm leaning towards shoulder or other new injury.

On another note, in MotoGP the experts have claimed one of the major reasons the Japanese manufacturers have fallen so far behind is their unwillingness to quickly respond. They want to avoid 'failure' and spend an inordinate (to us) time on testing and analysis prior to allowing components to race. Now that they have European team bosses and Europe based test teams, and they see they are being crushed on track, they are starting to claw back their performance. They have the know-how, but can't compete when changes are needed quickly. This sounds a lot like Yamaha prior to Star, and maybe Kawi today? 

Unpopular opinion: Jett would still win on Prado's bike, given a few weeks to test and set it up. 

Maybe they added the power and now the chassis and suspension needs to catch up? Power and delivery of that power has a major impact on chassis and suspension performance.  They need to look at the Lawrence Hondas and get ideas about bracing the frames to handle the power needed at the highest level. Before you get your knickers in a bunch, I'm not saying that the Kawasaki needs to copy Honda's implementation, just the concept.

The level of bike blaming these days is insane to me. Yes, the bike matters. Maybe even "a lot" - but it doesn't take you from "Prado is going to fight for the championship" to getting absolutely waxed by a minute in some motos.

When guys like RC, Chad, James, Dungey etc had bike problems, they were still on the podium and fighting through it. They didn't throw in the towel and settle for 8th. 

I like Prado, I think he has the talent to run up front, but not when he's seemingly so mentally committed to blaming the bike instead of learning how to race over here. It's a vicious cycle with some of these guys. 

Keep seeing the title of this thread and seeing Prado has a turtle head and thinking he has to poo 

I like this!

I would guess it is partly bike issues but the bigger issue is just not wanting to get hurt again, which would be made worse if the bike isn't giving him confidence. It's imperative for him to make it through the full season healthy and gain some experience. If that means going 3-4 sec a lap slower then, for now, so be it. The worst thing he can do right now is to get impatient, push too hard, and get hurt again. We're only 3 races into this guys. Relax. 

What happened to him and Anderson this week?

No, he's doing the worst thing he can do. He's blaming the bike and everyone else, instead of taking accountability. IF what you're saying is true, then he should say that. Not point fingers. He rode the bike and signed the contract. 

To me, this is entitled behavior and it doesn't make anyone look good. Himself or Kawi. 

This 100%. You sure about this Chase?

The problem is they literally can't build a faster motor. If they could have, they would have. 

Maybe hiding another injury? Wasn't there a rumor that Prado had another hard crash like a week before Pala?  Think it was RV that mentioned that.  

Idk, definitely didn't expect him to be this far off pace. 

Different generation bike. Different airbox. 

There’s obviously a lot of variables to this. I didn’t have high expectations for him. I know he’s a championship caliber guy but so is most of the top 10 in America. Take into account a new bike, new tracks, new daily format and coming off injury. You add all those things together and this is the result. Colorado was especially bad but the track was gnarly and it was at high elevation which I think points more to where the bike is at because the first 2 rounds weren’t nearly as bad. I’ll reserve judgment for the last 3 rounds.