It was a tough outing for the Monster Energy Kawasaki team at the Thunder Valley National for round three of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship. Jason Anderson has notably struggled with racing at elevation throughout his career, but he tried to push through that this weekend. Jorge Prado continues to learn not only his new Kawasaki KX450SR, but also the tracks, which he's racing for the first time. Prado was not even in a qualifying position late in the second qualifying session, as he sat 42nd and out of a guaranteed spot into the points-paying motos, but he managed to get a fast lap in and qualify 11th overall, right behind Anderson in tenth.
In the first moto, Prado was near the front of the field and eventually finished eighth, as Anderson came through 12th. However, separate crashes forced both riders out of the second moto. Prado was 39th officially, Anderson 40th.
Prado finished 8-39 for 13th overall was Anderson finished 12-40 for 19th overall. Through three rounds, Prado sits eighth with 72 points as Anderson sits ninth with 69 points.
This was the update on both riders in the Kawasaki post-race release:
In 450 Moto 2, Prado pulled another strong start out of the gate, turning the first corner in fifth place with Anderson close behind in ninth place. Early in the moto Anderson tweaked his knee from a tip-over on the top of the track. This caused him to be unable to put any weight on that knee, which led to another crash where he was trapped under his bike. Due to the pain in his knee, Anderson retired from the race early. Prado was clicking off consistent laps in the beginning of the moto, until he hit a kicker off a deep rut in the treacherous track conditions that led to him retiring early as well.
Prado said the following in the release:
“Not the results I was looking for today. The track conditions were pretty difficult out there. The rain made it very slippery and the ruts were super deep. It was a hard track to feel comfortable on having never been here before. In Moto 1 the track felt super soft so we made some changes to the bike for Moto 2, but I ended up hitting a hole in a deep rut that threw me off and ended my moto. We continue to make improvements during the week and we will learn from this race and look for more progress next weekend.”
Anderson said the following:
“Obviously, today was not how I wanted the day to pan out. My main concern for Thunder Valley is always the elevation because I struggle with altitude sickness, so I was focused on managing that. I ended up getting 19th overall. The first moto I got a bit squeezed out on the start and was just trying to hammer in laps. The second moto I went down at the top of the track and tweaked my knee, then I ended up going down again and got trapped under my bike for a bit. I didn’t feel comfortable finishing the race after that. I’m going to get my knee checked out next week and we’ll see how it all goes from there.”
![Jason Anderson]()
Jason Anderson Align Media ![Jorge Prado]()
Jorge Prado Align Media
Is it panic button time for Prado? Jason Thomas beliefs so, as he, Jason Weigandt, and Steve Matthes debated Prado’s start to the season in the Fly Racing Racer X Review Podcast, as Prado has moto finishes of 7-6-12-5-8-39 so far. But Thomas’ point is that this is far from what Prado is capable of doing after having watched him for nearly a decade in MXGP. Despite a shoulder injury in Monster Energy AMA Supercross, many expected Prado to have better results by now. Will he turn things around this weekend at High Point Raceway?
Watch the trio discuss Prado at the 20:09 mark in the Fly Racing Racer X Review Podcast below.
