Defending MXGP World Champion lined up for his first ever Monster Energy AMA Supercross race at Anaheim 1. Not many will argue that supercross and motocross are two different beasts, but there are other things that caught the 23-year-old Spaniard off guard as well. There is a lot more to learn than just the track, though not surprisingly the whoops did cause him trouble. Both Donnie Southers and Steve Matthes caught up with Prado after the race to get his take on his first supercross.
Racer X: All right, Jorge Prado first Supercross race in the books. Was that everything that you dreamed it would be?
Prado: It's so different. I didn't really expect many of the things I saw tonight, especially in the whoops because they are not big, they were just so rough. I didn't even know what to do! [Laughs] So, I'm not used to this kind of racing and just the format racing at night, it made me feel a bit uncomfortable at the moment because I'm not used to it. So, yeah, it's just getting experience and learning and like I said, first ever supercross race is done, P13. I think I need to be happy with that. The field is so deep this year and some even 250 champs didn't even make the main. So, you can imagine how tough it is, so happy with the experience and learning a lot.
Now that you have the one under your belt, do you think you'll come in more prepared for the last two rounds?
Yeah, I think I will feel better in the next round just because I will I know what to expect. I know the format a bit more but yeah, I think every track is different. The racing in every different track is different. So, I need to get used to it.
If you do well enough in the next two, is there any chance that you could stay for an additional round or two?
No, the plan is to go back to Europe, prepare the MXGP.
Is there anything that you want to change with the bike for the next two rounds?
No, I think the bike was good. I'm just, like I said, I'm not used to this racing. I'm not used to the track like it was in the main. So, I need to get experience and for sure we can adjust the bike, but also, I can improve a lot. So, I just take it like it was and learning practice and for sure next weekend will be better.
Here are Prado’s answers from the PulpMX post-race interviews.
Matthes: Okay, Jorge Prado, first supercross man, I think you did pretty well what are your thoughts?
Prado: Yeah, I think I did pretty well, too. If you see all of these riders that I am competing with, it's hard to beat them if you haven’t ridden supercross before in your life. I felt very uncomfortable today, because I am not used to racing at night. Like before the main my head was saying go to sleep, not racing for 20 minutes wide open. And this is something that I need to learn, I need to experience. And for sure this race helped me for the next two because I didn’t know what to expect. Like today when I go to practice, I didn’t know how it worked, like I saw one guy with a flag and then I hear everybody go, so I thought “Okay I should go!” And then [the next practice] we start with the gate, and then in the heat race they start with the board, but then in the main they start with the board but with the numbers! [Laughs] But then before that we go on a sight lap, but we can make a start? But I see myself starting but the rest not, it's weird.
Round two will be better.
Yeah, everything, it's weird. Also, the track how it developed, I didn’t expect it to be like that. I expected it to be rough but…
It's motocrossy right?
I don’t know if [I'd say] motocross because it is so tight.
I just mean breaking bumps, acceleration bumps, choppy stuff.
No, I think that was good, I didn’t feel uncomfortable with the ruts or the little breaking bumps in and out of the corners, it was more the whoops. Because they were very small, but they were so rough. It was difficult to go through the whoops, especially second set I was struggling a lot. I tried wheel tapping and all of that, but I have never wheel tapped or jumped the whoops because at the test track here in California the dirt is so hard we can go through them. Even when they are rough, we can hit them quite okay. But these ones, it's like every whoop has another edge and this is weird because when I try to jump the bike does something that I can’t expect because I don’t know how it reacts. So, it's hard for me to get the flow around the whole track when I lose so much in two spots. So, I think if I can do better in those two spots I would be more with the pack. Also starting from 16th [gate pick] and I almost holeshot, I almost lost the rear in the first corner too. It was good.
