Anyone else excited to see how Prado does at KTM?

The most interesting thing will be watching the Prado-Sexton results and seeing how horrible/great the Green Bike really is 

Nah. Dude is one of best starters ever to throw leg over a bike. That will carry him through most heats in SX. 

Vince Friese, who Prado beat at both completed rounds last year, wasn't frequently qualifying through LCQs and neither will Jorge.

I really wanted Prado to bring the heat in outdoors last year, to throw an elbow into the US guys, to stir the pot. But in outdoors he wasn't even on screen enough to know he was racing, not relevant to the podium.

I hope he is re-invigorated on the KTM but I really don't have the same feelings I did last year. Really just disappointed and waiting for the next excuse now. I hope I'm wrong and he competes for wins, but that's how I feel anyways. 

That is a badass picture tho, ngl.

Not a fan of the way he acted and quitting on the race track. If he has complete turn around this year. I will give him credit for coming back!

Doubt I will ever be a fan!

Yeah I am. Despite the fact that something about him rubs me the wrong way (for some reason I sense slight veiled arrogance behind every word he speaks), I personally think there was more to the story with Kawi. The reaction and what we know of the catalyst just don't check out to me.

That said even best case, I question his capability indoors. My mind goes to Hunter, who comes from the efficient technically-sound style camp. In 2024 his average result was ~P8, and this was after two full 250 West and one 250 East seasons getting Supercross race-day and testing experience. I'm sure an ex-champion could surprise me, but I expect Prado's end of season avg to be something ballpark in that area, although I think with his start consistency he'll have less random P12-21 results than Lawrence did, but conversely his lack of experience will net him less P2-5s than Hunter's 2024 output. Similar averages but a narrower range of results. 

Other than rare performances, I strongly doubt his ability to regularly outperform Webb, Sexton, Tomac, Cooper, Roczen, Plessinger (if healthy), Mookie, Hampshire, Anderson, and Lawrence. And I think he'll have his hands more than full with Mcelrath, Savatgy, Craig, Marchbanks, Nichols, and of course Ferrandis and Barcia once they dial in the Ducati. And I'm definitely forgetting guys. 

Imo there's learning & testing years, but before that there's the "learning what I need to learn & test next year" years, and this is one of those. 
 

Friese only qualified for two mains last year...and the field wasn't nearly as stacked.

Friese only raced the first two races, transferring directly into the main in both. He jumped in for two rounds amidst the midseason break in the AMA Arenacross championship, which he took the title in.

Prado holeshot A1 last year...got passed by 13 guys... finished 14th...one place in front of Friese...

Exactly the point. We are talking about avoiding the LCQ.

Prado (and Friese) can rip those starts with ease, and Jorge would only get passed by (at most) half of 13 guys after a top-three heat start with only half of the top guys in it and fewer than half the number of laps to fall in position after that start.

He was 7th before the crash in the whoops.

Don’t bring facts here, you’ll get in trouble

I know. Unfortunately I like facts 😂

I’ll get excited in May, if he makes it through the meat grinder 

So he still got passed by 13 guys then right? Was he the only one that had to hit the whoops? 

Never really was a fan when he was in Europe. In MX2 he was a level above the competition and in MXGP I was always rooting for Herlings (obviously) and Gajser. Anyways, he is one of the sports elite talents and got those world championships through hard work and dedication. Last year was a year to forget. I don't have hard feelings for him at all. I've seen a lot of hard emotions towards him, people calling him a quitter and even worse things, but the reality is that we don't exactly know all the details. It seems like he is gelling well with the KTM program again and hopefully he will give us some flashes of brilliance the upcoming years in the US. Especially outdoors I really hope he can battle with Jett, Hunter, Sexton, Plessinger, Tomac and the others. The main goal would be to finish this SX season healthy, with a few flashes towards the podium. That would be great and realistic. He surprised me in the past with really epic progress. His first year in EMX125 was brilliant, but the step towards EMX250 was quite hard in the beginning of the season. At the end of the season he was battling Herlings for the GP win in Assen

Who was missing in the field last year that's there this year? 🤔

The KTM engine guy’s time to shine with having the two guys in the field that want the most power you can make from the bike. 

No he's a lay down quitter.

I don’t have any idea of how fast he’s been in sx compared to his teammates but I know he was training with Lucas Coenen at Fox Raceway few weeks ago and Prado was around 2 seconds faster per lap, that doesn’t mean he’s going to win but at least we know he is already at the speed he was in mx in 2024. I Don’t spect too much for sx (maybe a couple podiums in determined tracks) but I think he will be fighting with the top guys in mx all season.

Prada should surprise a lot of people in SX, but people are more focused on outdoors where he is going to do very well.

He’s studying the 250 heat race, he should be fine. Hell even 38 commented to appreciate it…

38 getting a head start for outdoors messing with the people that he feels threatened by, huh!

I’m sure Prado is the least of his worries. Not turning this into a Deegan thread smh 

you did bite though 👍

You bit first! Lol 

I liked DB's comparison that Marchbanks got Prado's ride at Kawi and all eyes are going to be watching to see who places better. Cause if Marchbanks comes in ahead of him in the race, Prado's days in the US might be short.

Is this in regards to SX or MX?

Asking because if it's in regards to SX, Marchbanks should have him covered seeing as he's entering his 8th year of SX. Prado has a total of 6 SX races under his belt. Not an apples to apples comparison. 

Marchbanks also has one 450SX and three 450SMX races under his belt as well. 

Every week likely, in SX