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Maybe but you can’t make a blanket statement like that and just ignore the fact that the MXGP point leader is on the bike.
Hv you watched the other pre, post race interviews . There drilling him good. Horrible position to be in he was in Really good spirits that’s starting to fade out. A revalvale co installed a shock spring 30 lbs too hvy for me. It turned my bike into a head shake of death machine. Easy fix just install tge stock spring . America is a tough country these people want to get there moneys worth out of him. Strongest hhg right now with every drilling record . We fired men all the time for lack of ability to hang .
Hang equals Loyalty. If you can hang, it builds camaraderie with the other Hangers. That’s when people work together as a unit to get things handled.
It sounds like he would welcome that
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Did everyone miss Prado praising his team, when he said everyone at Kawasaki is working hard to improve the bike?
I was thinking the same thing. We’ve seen elite riders get out of contracts before (Stew comes to mind), and there’s no incentive for Kawi not to let him out if the year keeps going like this. Especially if they are snagging Sexton next year.
He described an acute injury twisting his knee that also caused ligament and cartilage damage, not pain from repetitive stress, and called it a tibial plateau fracture...... so who knows..... but did not sound like he was describing a bone bruise.
You have not worked with engineers I see.
As a Tomac fan he has internalized his struggles with Kawasaki even while winning multiple championships with them, and ultimately we hear about his difficulties after his transition to Yamaha. Called a "head case" by the Vital community for years - we don't know what's going on so we start name-calling.
Yes, Tomac is the model for accountability, but also for secrecy. If there were a true bike problem he'd never say it. Bike blows up at Redbud - always an electrical issue 🤪.
Jorge is a multi-time world champ and bike setup matters. Kawi paid good money for him but Jorge is committing 3 years of his career to make this work. Yes - Febvre is the current MXGP points leader and making the EU spec (not US spec) Kawi work. But I recall Jorge beat Febvre last time they competed for a world championship.
I'll go with confident, open, and frustrated over arrogant and incapable.
If Prado does, in fact jump ship and doesn't head back to Europe for 2026...would Kawasaki still field a 2-man 450 team? If so, who might get the nod as Sexton's teammate? I doubt they'd sign Ando again...and I sincerely doubt he'd consider riding in Chase's shadow.
Actually I have. The question is are they at the track on race day calling the shots? I have no idea, but if they are that’s ridiculous unless safety is involved. Prado or any rider for that matter are the ones riding the bike and should be able to make the adjustments they want on race day.
Prado beat both Kawis, Febvre and Seewer:
Mitchell Harrison qualified one spot behind Prado today. Maybe it's just the factory bike that's a problem? That must be it....
Frankly, cultural differences or behind-the-scenes happenings make no difference to me at this point... Prado comes across as an entitled whiner. I straight-up don't like him after the way he's handled adversity this season. I know, it doesn't matter, nobody cares what one random fan thinks. But, I think many other American fans feel the same, which won't help his case for gaining a fanbase over here going forward.
Yeah, but the issue is, he is directly WRONG. There is no way the bike or team are this bad. He either doesn't know how to set up a bike, is extremely out of shape, or is an extreme headcase, or a combination of the three. I'm cool with riders being direct, but it's also pretty obvious to me that he is wrong in thinking none of the blame is on him. He's just as responsible as the bike/team are.
"I don't know. I don't know. I don't know."
- Jorge Prado
I think if he starts winning, or at least running upfront, fans will come back around and forget all this. I’m sure he’s just frustrated with how things are going and maybe these kinds of interviews are his way of putting pressure on the team to make bigger changes for him. It’s well known that Kawasaki is quite conservative in terms of bike setup. I hope Jorge and his team can get it figured out, having another fast guy in the mix is always positive and I have no doubt in my mind that he can at least run podium speed if he’s at his best.
Jorge is letting his ego get in his way. He hasn't accepted the fact that all these guys are really good and there is a phenom on the track.
Pit Row
In his interviews he keeps telling that I'm waiting for the team to deliver and the team is sending engines over night across US to test them.
It could be so freaking simple to as "I need X torque and Y HP at Z RPM to be able to ride it the way i want it".
After engine is done you start fiddle with chassis and suspension since it useless before if you are so down on power.
So Jorge should be in the garage working on the engine, maybe on the CNC machine? 😂🙄
Give Tomac Herlings engine setup and see Tomac call off the rest of his career within 2 laps. Engine setup are deeply connected to riders style, as much as chassi and suspension.
Febvre has what, 5-6 holeshots from 39 opportunities this year so he and the bike isnt exactly setting the world on fire. Even Phil up in Canada need more power and he has no restrictions on where to send the engine it sounds like, still not solved with 3 races left in his season.
3 mins into moto one throwing the anchor and looking back. No way he should not have made that pass stick on Tomac.
So Mitchell Harrison is running 10th on a non factory Kawi. Beating 30 other riders, many not on a green bike. Maybe the KX isn't so bad?
Over 30 seconds behind the leader halfway thru the moto, wtf? Maybe it's as simple as, he just can't handle the pace of the top guys on our tracks. I question his fitness as well. The bike set up may not be perfect but he should be faster, no question.
Have you considered the idea that what’s needed might not be a matter of an adjustment that can be made trackside, but perhaps something that involves signoff at the highest levels?
That track is a copy of Matterly where MxON was in dirt and prepp. Little tighter.
Jett, Hunter, Eli, Gajser, Prado was all running the same laptimes there over a full weekend, 9 months ago.
Did you hear the 1 degree comment? Was a good comparison with how sensitive they all are with bike setup.
You can't compare a 10th place guys setup to these guys. Tomac was a tenth place guy on last week's failed setup. Today he was second.
This is a good analysis. A couple observations.
First, '22 was a year Jorge was not feeling good on the Gas Gas.
Second, in th '24 MXON Jorge was one week removed from clinching a season long close batle with Gajser. And although they didn't race head to head in qualifying Jorge won the qualifier easily over Hunter and AP.
Finally, the most notable point is that currently he's struggling to beat Guillod. No disrespect to Guillod but that simply has never been the case is the GPs.
Since they are sending engines across country for testing it's not something you just fix at the track.
For durability, maybe they are a bit ahead from what we are seeing now. That they have a setup or two being durability tested as we speak before making it into Prado's bikes.
Can't imagine a factory team throwing in stuff directly into their stars bikes, that hasn't been tested for a couple of 4h sessions or something beforehand.
Even before he gets it for practise they probably need to test it live and not just on a Dyno?
Prado also said he was testing bike setup for 2025 for the team during MXoN, he wasn't on his 2024 championship setting. He said that held him back some.
Yep! Amazing how quickly the fast guys figure out bike set up.
Kawi and Prado have been working on it non stop according to those in the know. You can't keep blaming the bike. Hell, Barcia beat him!
I think this year for him is throw away. Hopefully he gets it figured out next year. We need more guys battling up front. I'm very curious to see how Sexton does on the KX if he ends up on Kawasaki.
You do know Tomac and Chase literally is working on bike setup last week's after 3 years on the bike. Still not there according to them.
Maybe Chase is there after today. Tomac for sure not.
Honestly, Prado shouldn't make any excuses. When he announced the switch to Kawi, he said in a podcast, he picked Kawi because of how much he liked the bike and how much better than it was than a KTM/GasGas. So it's on him if he's suddenly switching up his perspective.
No I haven’t, but that’s a fantastic point and it’s as possible as anything else. 👍🏻💯
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