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Ahhh... Well.... I'm not going to pretend like I know a damn thing about Spanish/European culture so maybe the family support thing is true, but with that said, there's no way in hell I'm commenting that kind of stuff on my sisters posts....
He seems to speak fluent english from the interviews I've seen. I don't think a language barrier has anything to do with it.
Agreed, its happened before...but would be a serious move. From three year deal , to both sides wanting out?
It is serious. I just don’t know how you salvage the relationship at this point. It’s a bad look all the way around. If they can’t get it figured out by the end of SMX do you even want another year of the same? I think Kawi being nearly silent about it is pretty telling how they feel.
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Both will be fine Kawasaki & Prado. He is a great rider & riding a good bike. All you marriage counselors should try another profession
They will be divorced as soon as the season ends.💯👍🏻
IMO the most likely Prado theory is that he does not know how to set up a bike or test. On KTMs in Europe they have a plethora of settings to choose from and no restrictions on modifications. KTM gave him a bike without him knowing how to test because of they have so many preset settings. The kawi is a new model with far fewer riders on that bike forcing Prado to build a bike which it seems like something he does not know how to do considering results from other riders seem fine as well as feedback from other riders also seems fine. I think he's ruining the bike from his setup philosophy and a lack of understanding of how to build a bike setting.
This reminds me of when TP rode the Yamaha 450 factory bike when they where struggling with setting it up (this was before Star). His first impression was "what the fuck have you done to the bike".
This statement that the kawi is not good is hard to judge because if he rode Prado's bike it includes his changes. Could be what fucks it up. If he rode the base setup (which all OEMs have), it's something else.
Also curious if Chase has tested the SX, MX or both.
Prado will be just fine when he get a bike the way he wants it. Throw him on a Austrian bike or a star or hell even club YZF and he will be just fine. Like I said before and hell even filthy Phil said on pulp the bikes not what they want. Its making Phil's life harder than it needs to be. TToss Phil on a mx101 YZ450F and hes leading the series right now, arguably no matter who did or didnt crash.
Prados bike in the GP's was a rocket ship that had maximum power from bottom to the top and he tuned it with the ecu and his wrist. As has been said here but worth saying again herlings and carolli have talked about how his bike has so much power they could never ride it. 2 of the best to ever toss a leg over a bike saying the bikes to powerful and they would likley get hurt trying to ride it should give you an idea of what type of power hes looking for.
He'l be fine if they keep him for next year expect a lot of changes to the bike for him.
This is more of a bad look on Prado then Kawi imo. Plus he can’t ride sx and he now knows he won’t win outdoors here too. I actually thought he would do well outdoors this year. Maybe he goes to back MXGP with Honda HRC with the Fox connection? If he did go back to the GPs, what team would hire him, aren’t they all pretty much locked in? Would the KTM group take him back?
One thing is being fluent in conversational topics and another one is being fluent in communicating complex ideas that require domain specific knowledge.
But it's already said that he is not mechanically knowledgable. Dude speaks near-perfect English and probably doesn't really know the technical terminology in any language.
I hear alot of comments about the life change, how does going to a dozen different countries to just one not make it easier, Every thing here is the same no matter where the track is.
If you ever relocate your entire life to another country you’ll know.
With a fat check and my parents and family with me? Doesn’t sound too bad, especially coming to America.
Even if factory kawi has taken the bike to a strange place but it's still on the rider the make the most of it. Before Yamaha 450s was managed by Star and it was known as the blue pig everyone still made it work as best as possible. Barcia, AP, JB, Webb, Phil etc. regularly got top 5s indoors and out. Barcia even got a couple of wins. They put in 110% and probably did better than what they should have.
Prado ain't doing that.
I moved from England to Australia with my Mum, Dad and brother in 2009. It is still so hard not being with the rest of the family 15 years later. That is one of the hardest things, you go from your normal life to basically completely alone other than your immediate family. Add in losing friends and having to make new ones. Even these things alone are hard. Now chuck in food, travel, area, people and culture. People are underestimating how hard it actually is.
Did it 3 times. Switzerland, Canada, Slovenia. Integrated within 6 months except for language fluency. It’s all about budget and attitude. He clearly has an issue with one of those.
Pit Row
It’s not like he’s 16 yrs old coming over. Who’d Kenny come over with, only his pops? Kenny was 17 yrs old too. Metcalfe was 18 yrs old when he came over here I think. Rattray made it work. Marv, Pichon. DV12 and Tortelli. They all made it work somehow and I’d think it would be easier for a him to adjust then someone from France. My grandmother was from Madrid, he’s making my peeps look bad hahahaha
Reedy as well.👍🏻
To be fair I totally agree with all that and wasn't trying to make an excuse, more trying to add some perspective. It doesn't help as you have mentioned above, other people seem to manage and adapt a lot quicker. But hey, it's different for everyone and people handle things in other ways. He could be struggling with it more than people realise. That's mainly what I meant.
Has he tried adding magnets or magic crystals inside the frame yet?
Dylan Ferrandis and Valentin Guillod have both talked about the struggle of adjusting to American culture, but they don't let that struggle impact their racing. In Guillod's case he just flies back to Switzerland for a ham sandwich and then comes back to kick Prado's ass on a stock bike 😅
On the AC and JB show, JB talked to Anstie about the move from Europe to USA and he mentioned it was hard getting used to the so called standard bike compared to a works bike.
Different frames and swingarms for different tracks etc.
Only thing is that Kenny, Marv, Lawrences, didnt seem to struggle.
Kenny raced the factory bike in his first/second year at KTM already, he did a few SX races prior to the MXGP season. Maybe that helped
Marv, it actually shows how good he was. But maybe the adjustment came easier because he didn't have to change brands?
Lawrences didn't have much of a pure MXGP Factory bike when they came over. Hunter was on a Factory Suzuki prior to stepping to 114 Motorsports Honda, but that Honda bike wasn't competitive at all. Jett rode an old factory Suzuki at age 14, in his one and only EMX250 year.
Don't forget that Prado isn't stepping into the 250 class, he directly had to go into the 450s. Doesn't take away that a 4 time World Champion should be able to get at least into the top 10.
It's definitely a weird case. He showed a few flashes of his speed, but definitely not close to his old form. You don't luck into first place finishes at practices though. He went P1 in a few (High Point, Southwick) and led quite a few laps at Red Bud, but looked extremely uncomfortable
We're now 16 pages deep in another Prado thread. To anyone, not directly to you LP31: Watch this clip and tell me that he doesn't have the talent or capacity to make the transition: Prado and Herlings intense battle for the Win of MXGP RAM Qualifying Race | MXGP of Flanders 2024
I agree that IMO he has to change his attitude in his interviews though. He is honest that he isn't happy, but you can bring that message in multiple ways. If he was more humble in his answers (i.e. "I have a hard time transitioning to the bike" instead of "They don't give me enough power") then I think people would generally be more understanding. It's now up to him and his team to have the time and positive attitude to change ways. I really hope he can, maybe with the help of Chad Reed? To be honest I prefer him to stay in the US instead of coming back to MXGP. He has way too much talent to only spend one year chasing his dream over there. There has to be a way to get comfortable. Either at Kawi, or at another brand..
That's of course attitude and expectation management from riders perspective. People make it sound like Webb could have built a Star bike himself at factory Yamaha, or fixed the new KTM himself and be fine with racing it (which he wasn't, KYB susp). It's up to the rider to fix the bike, right?
Webb left Yamaha because of the bike. He also told KTM the 2023 bike sucked (said this himself in interviews) and finally also left KTM to get on the Star Yamaha. Eli took a paycut to get on the Star Yamaha.
The point is Factory bikes is not a guarantee that anything can be fixed, independent of results.
I really hope he succeeds or at least shows some potential. The total changeup is to much i guess at this point. When testing the kawi he rode a SX bike. We all know he doesn't have much experience in that field so he doesn't have much base line reference. He was already out of his comfort zone on those tracks so figured, well this might work. Now he is on tracks where he normally would be comfortable on and can't get out of the bike what he wants/needs to be competative. I can get behind the idea that he needs to be more of a fighter but he isn't. He isn't a big dude that can muscle the bike around like others can. He is crafty. He needs to be comfortable to go fast while others have caracter rides when the settings are of. He gets paid a shit load but is that really worth the risk of (serious) injury proving that you deserve to be up there? He is a 4 time champ. We already know when it clicks he will be up there.
Riders switching brands and struggling with bike set up is nothing new. Most recently, Chase to KTM.
But I don't recall ever seeing a top rider on a factory machine getting beat by privateers and taking no personal responsibility for it.
At this point I am believing even if Prado gets back to mxgp his results will be same bad.
Is there any interviews with team manager or somebody in the team? What they have to say?
Bad look for kawi for sure. The one and only rider just riding sight laps for 20min+2 laps.
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