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For the reasons I will not disclose with all of the BS and "reasons" already rounding here I wilk say this :
Jorge had propably tge toughest year in his life not only in his carreer. To get used to the way of life in the states where immigrants run the show. He propably still a bit shocked that the mighty US & A is a complete 3rd world country.
Also he left behind the whole of his social circle and might feel a bit lonely, as you need people around you to socialise and have laughs and talks. Jorge's only friend seems to be 25 years older Chad Reed. He could feel that he is alone against the whole industry. That is just the personal feel. Now comes the team and environment change. Must feel terrible to Jorge that, he gets a start but as soon as the bike warms up properly (gets to race temp) it is completely another bike that he was riding two laps ago. Add the factor that he has ridden KTM for all of his life. There he did not have to know what to ask, as all of the setup work and feedback of those setups where done for him. As Jorge isn't technically gifted, well he doesn't recognize a piston if it hits his balls.
He is in a bad situation, as kawasaki USA is known for their attitude - villopoto won with us, tomac won with us, it is not the bike it is the rider.
But as I have seen Jorge ride a bike personally and close - seen him on practises on different tracks and european camps.
All I can say, you do not know the guy, you do not know the grind and work this guy puts in it. He is a 2 time MXGP champ, battling the likes of Herlings, Gaijser, Febvre and coming out on top.
Jorge on the Kawasaki is only a shadow of the Jorge he was on the De Carli Bike - People can't seem to tgink about the team - De Carli is the team that brought you 9 time World Champ Antonio 222 Cairoli. He came from the most succesfull MXGP team to a total shithouse in AMA. When did Kawasaki field a rider last time who was capable of a championship? Wasn't it Eli Tomac on 2017,18 and 19 and after that when Eli left, Kawasaki has looked more than a 2nd tier team?
To Jorge Prado and Kawasaki - do not throw your guns away. I am a huge fan of both. Jorge, the cleanest slow dude on the track who is usually 1st. Kawasaki as a brand. Jorge should just rebuild an engine and take the bike apart and put it back toghether with his mechanic to get some knowledge of how the stuff works and gel with the team more. You must know how to set up your bike and how the stuff works mechanicaly to set it up to your likes
Welcome to the forum, jorge!
Here's the other weird part about this. I get that maybe he hadn't tried the bike in motocross and, to be fair, Kawi riders haven't really contested pro motocross in a few years. But at the beginning of the year, Jorge was clear that he liked the Kawi much more in supercross than his Gas Gas, even without much testing. If that's really the case, he's shooting himself in the foot because he can more easily overcome bike deficiencies outdoors than in SX. Really not a smart move.
Sounds like his assessment of bikes is basically an emotional response and not an actual assessment of how good a bike is. He loved the kawi until he didn't.
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In the gypsy interview he even said he knew the Kawi would be better just by looking at it before he even signed. After testing on the Kawi twice he said "It's so much better than the Gasgas".
Funnily enough he looked better on the Gasgas in SX with like 2 weeks of SX practice. All in all just a super weird situation.
You pretty much lost the audience at "...He propably still a bit shocked that the mighty US & A is a complete 3rd world country..." At that point most people figured the rest of your long post was drivel and skipped over it, perhaps even stopping to give you a negative thumb.
And for what its worth, Ju Ju took him out on his boat during the break after Washougal. Orrrrrrr...is that when he had a secret test ride on Sextons 450??????
Hmmmmmm......
I’m not buying the “culture shock” angle in 2025, especially from someone paid millions of dollars.
woke.
I see this argument consistently for Prado, either culture shock, adjustment to new series and tracks, give him time, etc.
But then Haarup, Guillod, Paturel, all come out and adjust, have a positive attitude, and in interviews mention they like it here and want to stay for 2026.
Then Mitchell Harrison regularly beats Prado on a privateer KX450, so there goes the bike is unsafe argument. In post-race interviews Harrison states the bike is great, he doesn't know what is wrong with Prado, and he has no issues.
If you simply compare him to other in the same situation, his excuses don't hold water.
He can adapt just fine to different environments. He lived in Lommel of all places for most of his pro career and traveled the world racing. The USA ain't Europe but it's definitely not that big of a difference compared to some places in Asia. My bet is he just mails it if he isn't comfortable on the bike. I'm not saying it's a bad bike but it's not his bike. What works for others might not work for him and vice versa. I think he's better of at an Austrian bike since he has been on those platforms for forever. Only time will tell but i'm so hoping he will turn things around and stay in the USA to be somewhat competative
@LewisPhillips I’m curious what you have to say for your boy Jorge? I know you guys are at least friendly, did he give up? Was he just riding out the season avoiding injury so he could move to KTM healthy? What’s the tea there partner?
I said this in June and people thought it was ridiculous: Jorge isn't the type of guy to step outside of his comfort zone to 'force it'.
No excuse for what he did at Budds Creek. I think that was a result of a relationship beyond repair. They must separate ASAP...
Awesome man, thanks for the insight. It will be interesting to see where the pieces fall.
Is Anderson still under contract through the end of the season? Maybe get him to ride SMX in place of Prado?
Matthes keeps posting he'll finish SMX, and then he's gone. I disagree - I don't think there's any way that the Kawi brass is going to risk him pulling the same "giving up" at SMX. I mean, at this point if they put him on the bike the entire team would be asking themselves "Wonder if he'll actually try to qualify"....which is mind-boggling and I can't imagine a team manager wanting his team dealing with.
They had the guy building the engines, show that he doesn't care at all, maybe even hates Prado. Would think it's not directly a smart move to let Prado ride a bike after that. If it would fail and he gets hurt, that would be the end of kawi MX in USA.
Is there any rider that thinks the KTM is better in SX or whoops then any of the Japs?
He also has no experience with SX setup. Stiff suspension, low sag, slower speeds. Bike probably turns on a dime.
Directly opposite to MX. Look at Tomac with the Yamaha. Still looking for settings for outdoors.
Lewis , whats youre pers nal view
i get what youre saying, that he doesn't want to jeopardize his health and push 100% if the bike is not to his requirements,
is the bike really that way off and Kawasaki do not have the answers? it looks like hes only riding around 60/70 % and looks like he's totally demoralised and thinks f**k this
Pit Row
Can we just stop blaming Kawasaki for this?.
Yes they were stubborn 10-15 years ago but things have changed with Wirdeman as crew chief. It’s clear that they put in the work, Oscar has been with Prado for weeks testing at club etc.
I’ll promise that they have done just as much as any other brand would have done to make their ultra expensive investment get along with the bike.
Honda was in one way before and have gotten way more relaxed with Lars as team manager, teams evolve and you can’t stamp them in the same way forever..
Some of the specifics was KYB vs Showa. Eli uses KYB, Kawasaki was only developing Showa. On top of that, Showa was holding back some of their support with Kawasaki since Eli was running KYB.
Add to that that he was relegated to the number 2 spot as Adam was their #1 guy, and the reliability problems he was having and it doesn't sound like the best of vibes under the Kawasaki tent.
You guys are looking into this way to deeply, he wanted to come to the US, KTM wasn't going to give him a contract to come over but Kawi was. What the bike was like didn't matter that much, getting to the US is.
How does this get any better considering all of his races for the next 8 months are supercross based? It's really disappointing as a fan, because i still feel like the guy that won the 2024 world title would challenge Jett at least some times. If we're at a point where he can't crack the top 10 outdoors how do you start prepping for supercross?
I think because of this alone he ends up back in Europe next year and the fans of the sport miss what could have been.
They hired Broc after that as a full time test rider to work with each rider to develop the bike to suit each riders needs/styles. That was a clear indication that they learned from those past experiences and wanted to improve. It sure sounds like they at least tried all they could to make Prado happy with the bike.
I'm going to step out on an extremely far limb here and take a guess. Since Supercross was what he initially came to america for and he was super excited about it. If he does infact do SMX he will try significantly harder than he has during MX.
Es hora de ir a casa Jorge, gracias por nada. 🤣
Maybe Showa and WP are ass and KYB is where it's at.
Unless you are Jett lol.
lol- good point! When the dude that is responsible for torquing your sprocket bolts is calling you a lil bitch in public...I'd probably not feel so great on that bike as well!
If Jorge switches and is getting 4-6 place, can we all agree that it’s no improvement over the kawi?
I don’t think it’s fair to kawi to once again bash the brand when Jorge inevitably does better on his next bike. Because the results showing 7th and lower reflect his giving up after he was passed a few times by the top 4 guys. So in reality if he still pushed on the kawi he would have had some decent finishes most of the year. And of course his new attitude will be a “told you so” deal and he is going to give 110% even if he isn’t comfortable on a different bike.
Was also pretty interesting to hear what Herlings and Cairoli thought about Prado from a couple weeks ago in case people didn't hear it yet
JA didnt really do better than Prado even he "gave 100%" while Prado was cruising. Like many have said new model Kawasaki doenst look great at track.
Post a reply to: Jorge Prado "It was a very tough season to say the least. Cruising around every single race..."