Roger De Coster, in conversation with Donn Maeda, has admitted it wasn’t a definite yes from Austria, especially Pit Beirer, for Jorge Prado to go back to KTM.
Roger said: “It was basically Ian and myself that decided we wanted to go for it. And then, of course, we needed approval from Austria and there were a little bit, there were some questions there, especially about Prado and Eli being at the end of his career and all that, but it turned around pretty quick and we did have some support from some people in Austria, but Pitt was not so happy about it and Pit is more, you know, if you leave him, he takes it more personal, you know, and it’s hard for him to, especially with Prado, he won four championships, if I remember right, with KTM and then left us and then wanted to come back and then we were not so sure about Supercross, you know, he struggled a lot last year.
“But he put in a lot of work this winter and I think our crew understands what he was looking for and, you know, first race went well and I’m not saying that he’s going to be like that the whole season, but because the season is long and Supercross is tough, you know, and so many injuries also and all that, but I don’t think it was a real fluke that he got on the podium, he was a good starter and he is very good technically on the bike and I think he likes his bike and I expect more good results.”
In just three Supercross races Prado has shown that his return was worth the risk by all involved.
