Saturday morning, January 25, 2025. Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. Race day. Two-time and defending MXGP World Champion refugee Jorge Prado was sitting in a swivel chair inside the lobby of the Monster Energy Kawasaki 18-wheel semi-truck. Dressed casually in sandals, shorts and a Fox Racing T shirt, he looked around at the immediate reality of his race day morning surroundings. The friendly and well-spoken Kawasaki pilot was in good spirits and looking forward to what the third round of the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship had lined up for him.
(Little did the 24-year-old out of Lugo, Galicia, Spain know at the time, but less than an hour after this interview took place, Prado went down in a heap during the opening 450SX timed practice session, and as a result of getting tangled up in the nets at the end of the rhythm section, dislocated his right shoulder.)
“I feel good,” answered Jorge Prado on his mindset and approach for the Angel Stadium race set for later that afternoon. “I feel like every race day is getting better and better. I feel good with my bike. No, it’s fun. You know, right now I’m riding dirt bikes and I’m enjoying it here in supercross. Every day that I ride my dirt bike, I just get better. So, it’s a cool adventure step by step and just progressing and hopefully one day we’ll reach our goal.”
The goal of becoming a Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship 450SX champion?
“Yep, that’s the goal and I think it’s possible, so we keep training and keep improving step by step to get to that title,” answered Prado.
In the United States of America for his very first full season, all along the way Jorge Prado has made it clear that he’s come to this nation with absolutely one goal in mind and that’s to become supercross champion. In other words, he really is not messing around.
“No, no, I never mess around when it comes to racing,” said Prado, looking this writer smack in the eyes. “I like to win, so hopefully we can replicate what I did in the World Championship. I want to do it here. Yeah, and especially with the 450 being the main category. A racer from the World Championship hasn’t won here in such a long time. It’s a big deal. I was riding in a championship where I was comfortable. I knew everything I had to do to get to that title and right now I’m just learning a new bike and new discipline that is supercross. I’m getting to ride different tracks and tracks that I’m really not used to riding. It’s a challenge.”
Between flying BMX bicycles and Freestyle Motocross bikes, Monster Energy girls, blaring DJ music and fans here, there and everywhere, Jorge Prado has come to enjoy the pit party vibe at the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship tour.
“It’s cool. It’s different. It’s more like a show, right?” smiled Prado, looking out the semi-truck window. “I feel like when you go to the World Championship, it is more like a business thing. It’s like, ‘Okay, we just ride and hammer these tracks.’ Here, it is more fancy kind of stuff, but at the same time, it is GO time, as well, when we are on track. No, I like it. I like the combination. It’s cool to go and stay in the pits, too. Not bad.”
With racetracks are much tighter, sinuous and jump-filled that what he experienced while on the MXGP world tour, Prado continued on to speak about the American-based supercross tracks and how he has continued to become both faster and more comfortable upon them.
“Every day, I get on my bike and I’m just getting better and better, but of course everything is new to me. Every time that I race there is something new to learn and to experience. Every time I come off the bike, I just want to give my feedback and feeling to the team and see where we can improve, or to improve the bike. We evaluate everything that happened on track to just become better. I would say that I’ve been working on a little bit of everything. Everything here is new, so I just need to get comfortable. I mean the bike is already at a very high level, and me, I’m just getting better and better. We just work together and as I get better, the bike gets better, and so on.”
Prado admits he is still working on his supercross racecraft, as well as coming to terms with the frenzied on-track activity that often comes along with supercross.
“Yeah, especially when you’re in my position, and at my level, you’re pretty much always in mid-pack, so you’re ALWAYS in the battle, right? We don’t have that extra speed and confidence to ride up front. Let’s say you’re just riding a different race, where there is less happening. It is more like what I raced in MXGP. At the moment, I need to suffer and be in the mix. I mean it has never happened before where there are five champions of the highest 450SX category are racing at the same time. Even with just that you can already imagine how high the level is in supercross this year. And out of that you have another 20 riders that are also 250cc champions. Right now, I don’t know who is not a supercross champion on the starting gate. I feel like everyone is a champion. So yes, the level is high.”
Undaunted, Prado has continued to improve and gain confidence in his new chosen form of motorcycle racing.
“Yes, I’m starting to feel more comfortable. Like I said, I’m taking my time. I just want to do the right steps together with the team. We work hard and it’s cool. It’s been nice. It’s just totally different. We’re racing at night. That makes it very different. I mean you’re even standing around in the pits for four or five hours and then you straight into a heat race, which is very crazy. Once we go out there, we go wide open and the body is not even super warmed up. It’s different. You need to get used to it and that’s it.”
Unfortunately, Prado felt he was making some progress rolling into Anaheim 2, before he went down in qualifying. Goals for his first Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship have been very well thought through by Jorge Prado.
“If it was for me, I would love to win the championship, but it’s not the right time and it’s not realistic,” he explained. “I just want to improve. I want to see a good progression. That’s what would make me very happy. That’s my goal. Just get better and if that means getting a top five or a podium, let’s go for it. I just want to give it 100-percent every weekend and see where we end up. Then we want to replicate that next weekend and get better. That’s my goal.”
For now, Prado has gone down with a shoulder dislocation, and his timeline to return is not yet known, although it's already confirmed he will sit out of the Glendale round this Saturday. The learning process will be interrupted, but Jorge has made it clear this is a long journey, with many steps to go before he reaches his goals.
