Ian Harrison could not have been happier after Jorge Prado’s SMX win further endorsed the signing of the Spaniard last year when everyone else didn’t believe in him.
Now he has the red plate going into the final SMX round of the year and has made himself the main guy at KTM in the wake of Eli Tomac’s impending retirement next weekend.
Ian told Will Christien on TV: “I would say it started last year in October when he started riding and I saw the amount of effort he put in and the amount of laps he did. And he always wanted to know how to get better, what to do. And he didn’t really worry too much about working on his bike, but he really wanted to know how to improve. Then we saw it in supercross. I think he ended up winning maybe one of the first heat races of the year. And he steadily showed progress all the way through.
“And like he said earlier, he really made a good push in motocross to the start season. And then we kind of hit a wall and we were back and forth a little bit, but then he kind of hinted on what he really liked years before in Europe and we were able to do it for him and then there was a huge change. I’ve just seen his confidence grow and he’s obviously a very, very talented rider. I’m so impressed. What’s happened in under a year is amazing.”
And Ian was extremely impressed with Jorge’s recovery from his crash in moto two to keep the overall win: “Today, the aha moment for me was when he crashed. You know, like I hold my breath. I’m like, ‘dang, okay, it’s over. You know? The win is gone.’, but to see him fight back and take that opportunity to get by those guys again and then come away with the win, that’s a huge step for me.”
