The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team has been having a stellar start to the 2026 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season. With the addition of two new riders, Eli Tomac and Jorge Prado, it's safe to say these two have exceeded all expectations to start the season. Tomac already has three wins to start the season, while Prado, who is still new to supercross, has one podium finish, three heat race wins and two fastest qualifiers.
While no one really doubted if Eli Tomac could learn a new bike at this stage of his career, especially going to the steel frame of the KTM, the question was more “How long will it take?” The surprise was more that he did it so quickly, dominating the first two rounds and taking the red plate. But then came Houston, where he had a gnarly get off and finished off the podium for the first time this season. The question then became, “Okay, so he has the KTM figured out on hard packed tracks, but can he learn it in the ruts?”
Tomac put all questions to rest Saturday night in Seattle when he caught and passed Cooper Webb on what is always one of the ruttiest, gnarliest tracks of the year. Team manager Ian Harrison spoke with the press after the race in Seattle on Eli’s progression throughout the day, from being second in timed qualifying to getting third in his heat, and then coming back to win the main event:
“In the beginning it was tough to put consecutive laps in, but each time he came off the track, he gave us a good indication of what he wanted to do, and what he was saying and what we could see from the data on our bike, it seemed to all line up, so we just followed his direction and I think he really set up his bike good for the main event. He did a good job. He was able to turn really tight, shorten up the track and still fast, and then handle those rutted jumps and everything. So, I feel like he did a great job for us, but a lot of the direction came from him tonight.”
After Seattle Tomac sits only one point behind series leader Hunter Lawrence. Teammate Jorge Prado on the other hand started the day off great with the fastest qualifier once again in the first qualifying session. Unfortunately, Prado then went down in the second qualifying session hurting his shoulder.
Harrison also commented on the decision for him to sit out the night show, “Jorge crashed in practice there and at first like anything, you always feel the stinger, you are worried. He has had an injury on that shoulder before, so we had it checked out in the medical center, and everything looked okay other than swelling and aches and pains. But on a track like tonight, you have to have everything working properly. So, we asked him to give it a try, see how it went, but I said if he didn’t feel like he was up to it or if it wasn't going to be safe, then we are not in a title fight with him. He's doing an amazing job so far this season, getting better each week. So that was his option and he decided he'll have it checked out again and maybe get some therapy on it and I'm sure he'll be back next week, but it doesn't look like there's any major injury.”
On Wednesday this week KTM put out a press-release saying that even though there are no serious injuries to Jorge’s shoulder, it is bruised and sore so he will sit out Arlington.
Harrison reflected on Tomac and Prado and the addition they added to the team, “Well so far, I mean I'm so grateful for what they've done so far. Eli has been absolutely amazing during testing, these races way better than what I thought. I think I've mentioned this before, if you had asked me five years ago to hire a guy who's 33, I would've told you you're crazy, but he's proving me wrong. And then Jorge is, yeah, Frankie's right. He's new to our team, we got to learn how he operates and what he does, but I think he's a very, very talented rider. I think he's figuring out a lot of things. I think he's on that same trajectory as what Ken Roczen was years ago, so I think his potential is really, really high.”
That is some high, and also well-deserved praise. If there were any doubts over the last couple of seasons over what this team and bike could do, it's safe to say Tomac and Prado have put them to rest.
