Reigning FIM Motocross World Campion Jorge Prado was out in California last month to test a bit of supercross. The 22-year-old Spaniard has been on supercross tracks in the USA before, but why did he come back out on the heels of his MXGP title? Well, it turns out he might be interested in coming to the USA full time to race Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the AMA Pro Motocross Championship as soon as 2025. With that in mind, Steve Matthes and Kellen Brauer decided to talk about what to expect out of Prado in the latest email exchange.
Steve Matthes: Kellen, couple things that are interesting right now in the industry is the discourse over MXGP champion Jorge Prado coming to the USA and practicing SX at the KTM track with his #1 plate on and also, just the fact Jorge Prado is practicing SX in the USA shortly after his world title. I think it’s a forgone conclusion he will be here from people that I talk to that would know, I suppose it’s just a matter of 2025 or 2026 we see the Spaniard here. Let’s tackle these two very important questions because I know you went to the test track, watched Prado practice and even did a little RXI video. The world needs to know, where do you stand on the #1 plate controversy and also, how did he look?
Kellen Brauer: Steve, First of all, this #1 plate controversy and all the slander on social media beyond that are things I will not stand for. Jorge Prado is the World Champion. Period. He literally is one of a handful of people racing dirt bikes who actually deserves to run the #1 at this very moment. Remember when KTM sold a Ryan Dungey factory edition SX-F 450 with the #1 on it so John in Kansas could also be #1? I didn't earn that #1, John in Kansas didn't earn that #1, Jorge Prado did earn it though. He's not racing with it in the USA, he's actually not even been in public places using it because he only tested on private supercross tracks out here. Regardless of that, run the #1 all day when you're practicing on any discipline. He earned it.
As for how he looked, Prado fits supercross really well. Some riders from MXGP are a bit more rugged than Americans because they only ride moto so they can develop tendencies to just bulldog the whole track. Prado has always had more finesse in his riding and style than some of his counterparts and it transfers well to a supercross track. He pushes through rhythms really well to maintain speed and his timing was on point. I watched and filmed him during his fifth day riding a 450 on a supercross and he seemed to have no problem exploring options, tripling mid-rhythm, hitting step-on-step-offs, all of it. And yes, that includes the whoops. He told me that his goal with the whoops while here was to take it slow and not do anything unnecessary as he's really just trying to get a feel for it again. He skipped the whoops the first day, then hit them backwards, but when I was there, he hit them every single lap no problem. He's not Chad Reed in the whoops or anything but he's doing the right things in them with his body positioning, RPM range, where he's clipping each one with his front wheel, and so on. He was doing motos with some factory 250 riders under the KTM umbrella and I can tell you he was not the slowest person there at all. I agree with you that he's coming to the USA at some point, and he even said the testing out here has gone better than expected, so I think if you give him a full off-season out here to test before 2025, he'll do well. I'm not saying race win speed or maybe even not top five speed straight away, but the talent is there to get to that level for him, no question.
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Matthes: Again, I’m with you on the #1 plate. Stop it Cade and everyone else. That’s good that he seemed to be decent at it, KTM flew Jeffrey Herlings over for a SX look and it didn’t go well, and he’s not been seen on a SX track since. Not even Paris has been able to attract him. So for Prado to adapt well, that’s cool. I guess he was over here when he was 15 or something and rode some SX then as well.
As you are well aware Kellen, I’m the first guy to scream that the 250SX in the USA is so broken, it’s ridiculous. Thirty-year-old men on factory bikes racing a 19-year-old kid trying to get some experience- hardly a fair fight. Now they’ve made it even tougher to get out of the class (Poor Joey Savatgy) and so things aren’t changing in that regard. We’ll have multi-millionaires racing the “entry level SX class” …anyways, there’s rules in place that don’t allow the MXGP champion like Prado to race that class and I’m here to say that’s a mistake. I know, it goes against the grain of what I stand for, but this dude doesn’t have ANY experience in SX, and we’re supposed to believe jumping into 450SX is a great thing for him? I mean, Dylan Ferrandis has shown that while he’s a winner in everything else, 450SX has proven to be a tougher animal to conquer. Want to talk about Seb Tortelli or Greg Albertyn? Or any of the other guys? What’s your thoughts on the rule?
Brauer: I can see where you're coming from with this 250SX rule for an MXGP champion, and I don't necessarily agree or disagree, but Prado said something that I can get on board with. In essence, he said he is a 450 rider now and his 250 career is done. I know you love these comparisons, so I'll make this brief, but I almost look at it a little bit like Formula 1 and IndyCar. They are not the same, and oval racing is massively different. But you don't see Formula 1 drivers like Romain Grosjean, Marcus Ericsson, or Takuma Sato leave F1 and go into the Indy NXT (previously Indy Lights) series. Formula 1 drivers have ascended from Formula 2 into the highest echelon of open wheel racing which is F1 and if they move laterally to another series, they don't expect or want to drop back down to a junior series. Now I'm not saying 250SX is a junior series, but it's meant to be the class where young pros develop to be ready for premier level supercross racing. In my opinion, 450SX is the main attraction and if you're Jorge Prado, a 450 World Motocross Champion, it would seem weird to "step down" to a regional 250SX series. So yes, racing 250SX could be beneficial to him but so could racing an oval race of Indy NXT for Romain Grosjean before he has to take on the Indianapolis 500. But Grosjean is a world class talent and figured out oval racing at the highest level the same way Jorge Prado will figure out supercross on a 450.
Matthes: Kellen, with all due respect that’s a terrible comparison. In IndyCar or F1, you’re still driving on the same track. We’re talking about a rider that grew up racing motocross and is now going to jump into SX which is so different. This type of jump that Prado is trying to do is like a NASCAR driver jumping into F1, different tracks and cars, etc. Prado is going to find the 17 races in 19 weeks quite different, in my opinion. You need to get Prado some confidence with some rest weeks, some time to regroup and work on things in this new discipline of motorcycle racing. Also, I don’t want Prado nation coming after me, but you could make a case that he was the fourth “fastest” dude in MXGP this year. You had Herlings and multi-time MXGP champ Tim Gajser who missed most of the series with injuries and Romain Febvre won more races than Prado but missed a race with an injury so it’s not like our guy Prado was so dominant on the 450 (ducks).
I do applaud Prado for wanting to come to the USA, SX is the premier off-road series in the world (ducks again), and he’ll be welcome here with open arms for sure. I just think he’s jumping in a little deep water. I hope he gets here ASAP because Kellen, without Marvin Musquin I feel like you need a “new” guy!
Brauer: Yeah, I'm still in mourning over here without seeing Marv getting revved up for another year.
Bottom line, I think the worry that Prado is going to be just flat bad is a bit overdone. I was asked at the end of the day watching him ride what I thought, and my words were, "it's not worth all the crap being talked on Twitter." Even if you want to bring up Albertyn or Tortelli who similarly came straight to the premier class over here, you simply cannot say they were bad. They both won supercross races, Albee won a national title, and they both were plenty good enough to be factory riders here for years. People saying that Prado is going to be worked by privateers are just flat wrong in my opinion.
The biggest thing Prado has going for him is his age. By the time he decides to commit or not next year, he'll still only be 23 years old. By A1 in 2025, he'll barely be turning 24. He's younger than Hunter Lawrence, Justin Cooper, he's younger than every factory 450 rider in the USA except Jett Lawrence. He'll take his time, he'll learn, be solid his first year, and then I think by 2026 (when he's still only 25 years old), he walks in as a guy we could talk about as being a contender.
