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A lot of the criticism toward Jorge's performance seems to go beyond racing. It's not the first time we see riders from non-English or non-Germanic language backgrounds getting disproportionately picked apart. Riders who speak Romance languages (Spanish, Italian, French) often face a different kind of scrutiny. Countries like Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, I might add Japan, with Jo in mind, their riders are frequently framed through a more critical or dismissive lens compared to those from English-speaking or Germanic-language nations like the U.S., U.K., Germany, or the Netherlands. There's this unspoken gatekeeping from some American and European circles that favors certain profiles at the top.
A few years ago a few GP guys said this. I can’t remember exactly who it was but it was after they raced here. I remember the comments being something like, “in gp’s you push at the beginning, then back down slightly and push again at the end, but in America they push the entire time.” Simpson may have been one of them.
Complete nonsense! You have any statistical data to back your claim? I highly doubt that. America has always embraced riders from other nations no matter what their speak has been.
Jett came off ACL surgery and came in early. Remember all that discussion? And, Fraudo was supposed to take it to Jett. Eli came back after surgery too. Both had to come off crutches while Fraudo was walking around the next day.
If Fraudo is still recovering why hasn't he said so instead of blaming the bike?
People are wishing excuses for Prado.
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You brought up DV12, Tortelli, Langston, and Albertyn — but let’s be real:
DV12 & Tortelli never won an AMA title.
Langston took 3 years for a 125 title, 6 for a 450.
Albertyn needed 5 years to win 250MX and was a crash fest early on.
Prado’s 7th in points halfway through his first AMA season. Struggling? Sure. But compared to those guys, he’s right on schedule.
Yes Jett & Tomac were injured also, but they have all got data on the tracks & are used to their bikes.
I don’t know exactly what Prado said before the nationals, it’s good that’s he was optimistic or course he should be, but he could never of known how he will stack up as you can’t replicate race conditions.
Honestly I think some of you are relishing the struggle as you’ve had your asses handed to you at the nations for so many years it’s time to enjoy a euro struggle.
No it’s just people like you don’t want to hear the truth. Night and day difference between the two series. MXGP gets worse by the year. It’s a struggle for them to fill a gate. It’s sad to see…
You’re not wrong. So the question is …….why all the hype over Prado coming over here in the first place?
He’ll just understand he can’t hang with the best in the Outdoor nationals. Finishing 2 minutes behind first place. And multiple times a minute and a half behind first. 💁♂️ it is what it is. Numbers don’t lie…. No matter what you guys say 🙄
Prado has a 19th, 12th, 12th, 23rd, 12th in motos this year. Enough said. That’s insane.
20 pages of excuses for Prado. He’s making enough of those on his own.
I don't think the boy has any heart. 😎
At this point you're being purposely dense to the point of being delusional so I see no reason to continue this discussion. Literally everyone in the industry agrees that Prado is underperforming but if you want to believe finishing over a minute behind every moto isn't underperforming then there's no curing that level of stupidity
And yes, if he breaks contract to go back to Europe after getting his ass kicked this bad it'll absolutely be with his tail between his legs. Destroyed himself in SX and isn't even in the same zip code as the big boys in MX. That's an unmitigated failure
The season hasnt been bad besides the races where he completely gave up. Those races are making it a lot worse than it otherwise would be. If he was getting 5-7 every week it wouldnt be a massive success, but it would be fine. The times when he completely gives up and gets 15th or 19th are whats really making it a disaster. Theres no reason that he should be completely giving up. Theres team is working their balls off spending long periods away from their family working late into the night. Prado not giving that same energy back is going to cause animosity within the team. You need to be a leader on the team not just a rider, and hes not at all leading.
Structurally MXGP is getting worse by year, but talent wise they still have elite talent. A lot of you guys are forgetting Tim Gajser straight up beat Jett and Des Nations last year, and went 1-1, the same Gajser who Prado beat to a title
You’re not reading what he said, he literally said Prado is in fact underperforming he’s just saying it’s understandable
He didn’t go on record hating the bike until he lined up for some competition, he said he loved it before that…
This right here. Most thought it would take a season for him to learn the one day format and the tracks over here. But no one expected him to struggle getting top 20 in motos. There is no reason someone of his skill not able to nurse an ill set up bike to consistent top 10 finishes.
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You’ve thrown around a lot of insults, but just to be clear — all I said was that being 7th in points and the top Kawasaki rider in his rookie AMA season isn’t the disaster some people are making it out to be. That’s it.
I’ve never argued Prado is living up to expectations or that he isn’t underperforming. He clearly is — by his own standards, and probably Kawi’s too. But finishing top 10 in the most competitive 450 field we’ve seen in years, while adapting to new tracks and formats, doesn’t automatically make him some “unmitigated failure.”
You’re welcome to be disappointed in his results. But if you need to call people stupid and delusional just because they’re not foaming at the mouth about it like you are, maybe you’re not the one having the rational conversation here.
As you say this is hard to quantify, but I definitely feel French riders in particular have taken more than their fair share of shit.
Correct, I could be completely wrong as I’ve never even spoken to Jorge Prado about this but I think he was thinking it was a great bike through the lens of supercross, I could be totally wrong though. I struggle to see how he could have possibly liked the Kawi even a little bit when his results are this far off his mark
They were winning races right away. Maybe not titles, but winning races and getting podiums, not riding around in 20th. You didn’t see Tortelli out there battling with factory Phil Lawrence, Demuth, Narita and others in the back of the top 20 in ‘99 outdoors either.
Really, because I remember Sebastian Tortelli ,DV 12 and Ron Ron all being a beloved riders here in America SX/MX and are all highly regarded to this day. So I think you’re wrong.
I’ll say it again: he’s 7th in the championship, with an average moto finish of 11.25. That’s not “riding around in 20th,” no matter how badly you want it to be.
I asked CharGPt how the non US riders mentioned earlier were welcomed to the US. Response is below for that it’s worth:
In short: no, the European riders like Albertyn, Langston, Tortelli, and Vuillemin were not warmly welcomed by American fans or media when they first arrived — especially not when they were hyped as “the next big thing.” They often faced skepticism, criticism, and a fair amount of “prove-it” energy from the American motocross scene.
Here’s a quick summary of how they were received:
🇿🇦 Greg Albertyn
Came to the U.S. in 1995 as a multi-time world champ.
Faced heavy criticism early on — crashed constantly in SX and was seen as “overrated.”
Many fans and media mocked his struggles and questioned if GP riders could hang.
It wasn’t until his 1999 250MX title that he earned broader respect.
🗣️ Albee has said himself that the transition was brutal, both on and off the bike.
🇿🇦 Grant Langston
Came in with high expectations after winning the 2000 MX2 world title.
Had some early success in the 125 class, but also faced skepticism from fans until his 2003 title.
It wasn’t until he won the 450MX title in 2007 that he was seen as fully proven.
🇫🇷 Sébastien Tortelli
Made an immediate splash by winning the 1998 Glen Helen opener in the mud.
But despite his speed, he was constantly injured, and many fans saw him as fragile or inconsistent.
Never fully escaped the narrative that he couldn’t stay healthy enough to win a title in the U.S.
🇫🇷 David Vuillemin
More popular thanks to his style and SX skills, but still had a bit of an outsider label early on.
Nicknamed “Le Cobra,” he won fans over more than most Euros, but still faced pressure to prove he could beat RC and MC.
He never won a title, which kept some fans dismissive despite his speed.
🧠 Bottom Line:
Prado isn’t the first GP star to come over and get met with more criticism than credit.
Even the greats had to grind through skepticism, and most were judged harshly until they won — if they won at all.
So no, the U.S. fanbase doesn’t exactly roll out the red carpet for GP champions. It’s been that way for decades.
I was actually surprised when I read that he was 7th in points. The defending world champs average moto finish is 11.25 in the outdoors which is his bread and butter. First year or not he should’ve been up there in the JCoop and AP7 battle at the least. If you said he had an average finish of 11.25 and we weren’t talking about the outdoor series, I’d think you’d be talking about his average finish in SX.
Correct. He’s getting beat by two guys that just got off 250’s one of them very recently. He’s at 11.25 but being a World Champ, new to the US and US tracks I’d give him a 5 bike curve for his rookie year, still puts him at 6.25. Pretty sure Kawasaki expected about that but he’s just not there…
I never said the red carpet was rolled out for foreign riders over here, why would there be? The thing is everyone of those riders listed…. Were those not fair criticisms? Anytime you have a world title attached to your name and come to the US, you’re gonna be held to a higher standard, rightfully so.
I don't think Prado has a fitness problem. Is he getting beat up from bad bike setup? Most likely. But as many of us have said in here he is partially responsible for the setup. And maybe one of the reasons he can't get a good setup is because he tests and trains at 70-80% effort/speed?
Of course the bike will be setup horribly on race day when it's been setup for 80% soeed tests days. You need the bike to be setup for 100% on the limit conditions. Not crusing at 80%.
Mailing it in once out of frustration because bad bike setup is understandable.Doing it over and over again and progressively getting worse as the season goes along isn't good. Finishing the day outside of the top 20 is ridiculous for a guy is his calibre. Then taking no accountability himself and throwing the team under the bus constantly it's no wonder why many of us are baffled.
If he finishes up his contract early and goes back to GPs it is a complete failure. Especially in the fashion he done it all in. Strange how some can't see that.
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