A lot of people owe Jorge Prado an apology.
The silky smooth Spaniard took slings and arrows from all directions after let’s say, subdued, performances last year on Kawasaki outdoors that still netted the four time world champ sixth overall in his AMA Motocross debut before splitting from the team after never gelling with the bike.
Prado never blamed himself, he always knew his ability on a bike he trusted and the results he could obtain. But he could never find that trust on the Kawasaki to show his real speed and the elite level riding that he had shown in MXGP.
Simultaneously, Chase Sexton wasn’t happy at KTM and wanted on the Kawasaki to show his true potential.
Now, after a bike swap for 2026 that cost Prado millions in salary to get back on a bike he trusts, the transformation has been remarkable. Six rounds in and Jorge Prado on the KTM is faster that Chase Sexton on the Kawasaki.
Prado hit the ground running with a stunning third at Anaheim 1, three heat race wins and the last two Supercross rounds saw him take the fastest time in two massively different conditions, ironically that one lap speed was Chase Sexton’s strength…until recently!
Sexton was fastest at A1 but since then, even despite that win at A2, Sexton has been constantly chasing set-up using Pro Circuit parts by week two and is now testing in Florida. Sexton has only one podium in six races and the always rapid American hasn’t even had the one lap speed to compete for top spot recently. If anything, things are getting worse.
Jake Weimer had an interesting chat on PulpMX about his time at Kawasaki even accusing the current Kawasaki team manager, Dan Fahie, of lying when Dan said the following a recent press conference: “When RV was here for example, I mean we were very flexible. We did what we needed to do to get him comfortable and I think we’re doing that today. So I don’t think it’s any different.”
Weimer responded: “(I) wrestled whether I should say something or not and I wrestled with it for about a month and finally I’m like, I’m saying something. There’s a few reasons and I guess ultimately he (Dan) lied. He could have said a lot of different things but what he chose to say is a lie and I don’t think that’s cool. It very very much affected my career, you know?
“I wasn’t able to try a lot of stuff, there wasn’t a lot of stuff available. They kind of had a package and I’m not giving you a scenario. I’m telling you what I was told…’this is how our motorcycle works. You need to learn how to ride it.’ That would prove to be not possible for me. I was able to find a little bit of success through a lot of really, really hard work on my end. I want to be very clear that my gripe is not with Kawasaki, my gripe is with Dan and I thought Dan was a friend of mine. I’ve spoke very highly of Dan for years.”
Full interview below:
With that bombshell from an angry Weimer and the reality Eli Tomac of ultimately leaving because they refused to make changes he wanted, it seems Prado was right all along and his results have proven it.
Ryan Hughes gave his opinion yesterday on the Whiskey Throttle Show: “Someone told me KTM has figured out the second injector on the 450 just like the 250. So for Eli that works really well because now when it revs it keeps revving. And Prado…all he wants is a bike a fast as you can possibly make it, because he rides so smooth and effortlessly that if you have that power you can be more patient.
“Maybe Kawasaki hasn’t been as creative or as technical in the last few years. If you ride the bike it feels great, they handle really good, but just maybe the factory hasn’t been as technical on their development or they are only using factory Kawasaki stuff and not looking outside the box to get different stuff like Star (when they took over factory Yamaha)… they weren’t just locked into the factory stuff.“
Chase Sexton does appear to be given more freedom but he can’t find a comfort level for his riding style yet and recent history shows most riders who don’t steer with the rear have not found sustained success on the Kawasaki. RV and Tomac were really aggressive riders who twisted the throttle hard and won.
Romain Febvre just won the MXGP world title so the bike can get the job done… Maybe the character of the bike also seems to suit a certain style of rider more than others?
