Prado drama continuing?

Ability no, Mojo yes

If you listen to the mxon review podd Matthes says that now it’s official that Prado is done at Kawi. He also said no one will pay anyone to terminate the contract. 

It seems like all stakeholders came to sense then.

Monster/kawi may have been trying to get what they could out of redbull/ktm and that may have turned out to be nothing. They (redbull/ktm) will take Prado for cheap or not at all. 

It's so bizzare that we have a couple of situations in Prado and Renaux where a rider wants to leave a team and the team has been reluctant to let them go.

I get the money part – but you're gonna spend money to go racing and pay the rider, and they're just gonna ride around I guess?

Why should sponsors let a multi millionaire athlete walk away from a contract without paying a fee? Sounds like the athlete expects to be catered to and doesn’t want to hold up his end of the bargain. 

Prado just isn’t going get a lot of sympathy from American fans who watched him start up front last summer then use his hand to block roost as he casually worked his way backwards through the pack to the privateers then tell his buddy Lewis how incompetent his team was.

My buddy made a great point, they just happen to come to this agreement after MXDN.

May have been monster/kawi wanting to prevent him from showing up on a KTM and dropping the hammer hard.

We need to send him back. 
Been nothing but a drama queen 

And Kawasaki no picnic. 

That's a different question... the money has to be sorted out for sure, but at the end of the day you want the rider to perform and if he's not happy how's he gonna turn up to race in the right frame of mind? It's not an athlete in a stick and ball sport – if they hate the bike, how you gonna force them to ride and expect it to go well?

He test rode the bike, signed a 3 year with an option for a 4th year and they want to bail before the 1st year is already up. Jorge didn’t give the team enough time imo and it’s not like he was trying his hardest out there. If he hates the bike and wants out of a 3 year plus one deal after the first year, then that’s on him and he should pay their fees to go to greener pastures. He got hurt before sx, missed most of sx, then gave a half ass effort outdoors and wants to just be let out of his contract or to have RedBull and KTM (who I thought was broke) to buy him out of his contract. I’m just saying if he wants out then he should pay, he has the money. If he doesn’t want to pay then ride out the contract and watch Chase win on that bike and feel like the black sheep over there. 

In EVERY other sport, when a team hires a player, there's an expected value associated with him. If that athlete turns out to be a dud, for whatever reason, that team can sell the athlete to another team but never at the original price they paid. They can never fully make up for their mistake in hiring him in the first place. That athlete's value will plummet and get traded for much less. 

That's exactly what will happen here. Kawi and Monster got the math wrong, KTM will get him at bargain basement price, and it will be completely up to Prado to prove that he's worth anything to any team going forward. 

This year though will be different. There will not be a "building" year for him to get used to the environment, bike, team, etc. There will be no grace given for SX. He has to come out and perform because he put himself in this situation by blaming it all on the bike and team. Even if he does do better, if it isn't significantly better, every team knows there's a potential toxicity tax linked to him now, and he'll have to prove he's worth the risk by battling for podiums. Ultimately, by the end of 2026, Prado needs to be the #1 450 rider at KTM to have any negotiating power back. Otherwise, his best offers for '27 will be for fractions of what he was making at Kawi and GG. 

According to Lewis on the MXoN recap, Oct16 is the end date for Prado's deal with Kawi. And consequently Monster.

https://www.vitalmx.com/videos/features/mxon-podcast-show-sunday-recap

"Nobody's paying" - interesting. No Team Tedder either.

The end of an era, umm I mean error. 
 

Interesting thoughts from Chad Reed during an interview at MXoN. 

Quote - “I don’t know that Jorge sleeps at night thinking he was his best version of himself”

and…

Quote - “I don’t know that Kawasaki can put their hand up and say everything was roses from their side”.

I saw that too and im thinking that we never going to know whats really happened behind the door...

I don't know why Monster Kawi didn't just publicly come out and say that they cut him, or fired him for lack of performance. Then it doesn't seem as if they let him out of his contract and set a bad precedent for other riders coming to ride for Kawi. 

That's how it works in pretty much all other sports. If a player isnt putting up numbers, he gets let go and is left looking for a job elsewhere for way less money after a bad season 

We all know that Chase rode the bike before signing, and he is very particular. He 100% will be on the podium in SX and Jorge is going to look like a fool. 

On the other hand, Jorge isn't great at SX. No matter where he ends up, he's not going to be the top guy on his team in supercross. And that is a loooonnnngggg season. This is not going to go well. 

Performance works both ways. Prado was expected to peform, the bike was expected to be capable of the performance. Kawi doesn't think Prado performed, Prado doesn't think the team provided the bike capable so its stalemate. No one comes out of that winning or being paid. It is a shame we didn't get to see a performing Prado at the nations, but we will see what next year brings. 

By A1 this will all be water under the bridge. 
New rider/teams will just become the norm. 

Prado will be fine. Fans won’t hate him etc. That’s just corny. 

 

So sounds like KTM is going to take Prado on at a thrift store price, but I’m more intrigued at this point who gets the second spot at Kawi? I think Marchbanks makes the most sense but would he really get a factory Kawi spot before Levi? And I’m not saying at all that Levi wants or is ready for that step. There’s some solid international talent out there….Guillod, Coldenhoff etc. But I feel like that’s not a direction they would be too excited about coming off this Prado experiment. I think Kawi gets Chase’s opinion on this because this is a unique situation. 

Prado 100% has a magnifying glass on him. Not only for his results but by Chases results as well. I don’t think people hate him, I think he is just viewed as a whiny quitter at this point and he will have to prove he isn’t moving forward for most viewers. 

I agree with this.  They both have responsibility for the situation in equal parts I’d guess.  I think most understand that.  Many (like me) simply didn’t like how Prado behaved during all of this (petty, childish, unprofessional).  That’s on him and doing well next year on a KTM doesn’t change that. 

Chase won races, even a title on a bike that he seemed to hate. So, Chase being on the podium doesn't automatically equal a happy Chase that praises the bike and the team.

If Jorge just shows he can accept some responsibility for the outcome he can quickly make amends with the fans and move on. People can have short memories if given a reason to move on. Or, he can continue to claim that if he is not winning it is the bike/team's fault and the masses can double down on their disdain for his attitude. It's really up to him. 

You would think this coming year, Jorge will be all out on the KTM to prove a point that it was the kawi. He can’t afford to have another season go like last year with effort. Hopefully we see the best Prado has to offer here in the states, especially outdoors. 

Yup. Chase said he could hardly even get through a whoop section a week out from A1 in 2024 and was doubtful that he could crack the top 10... he ended up on the podium at A1, winning round 2, getting several more podiums that season (which was also hampered by a hand injury), get another win at the final round, and then win an MX title. There's no way he isn't at least a consistent top 5 guy battling for podiums as a worst-case scenario at Kawi.

There is no denying Prado’s talent, it’s about his mind set and health after SX. If he can stay healthy throughout the SX season it would be a huge accomplishment. So far what I have seen is he tends to blame the bike and take no responsibility for his riding. 

Not going to forget the day a professional racer purposely tried not to qualify for a race.  He can win every race next year and I’ll still not be a fan.  There are plenty of other riders to root for that are both fast and decent people.  

100% agree. And a highly paid pro as well I might add..

I just watch the racing. 
I could care less about riders personality or looks. 

These guys are all bad ass on a bike. That’s what I like. 

In life we all go thru times where a relationship has soured early and have no chance to repair.