In one round, Jorge Prado’s world championship defense was turned upside down. The Spaniard had been nigh on perfect in the opening four rounds with a broken seat being his most difficult thing to deal with – until the mud hit in Portugal!
Prado looked to have the speed and the control even when Gajser, Febvre and Herlings came up to challenge him but he couldn’t control the weather and not the technically perfect Spaniard finds himself 14 points down to Tim Gajser, with Febvre and Herlings (who just won his first moto of the year) sniffing the reality of a title charge.
Now as he heads to his second home GP of the season, Prado is going to have to emulate what he did in his first home GP – dominate! Prado went 1-1-1 that day for round two of the championship to lay down a statement to the world. He was the man to beat and no-one could be him. He followed that up with a win in the Riola sand and then again in Arco and he will need another one of those wins to regain the momentum he had worked so hard to build up, for the first time this year Prado, has to respond to someone else winning a GP, and Herlings appearing to find his speed and confidence as well.
This will be a huge weekend for MXGP championship momentum in Spain, Prado will have the crowd on his side but the pressure from his home fans, in essentially the area he grew up at. He will want to put on a show, but for the first time in long time, Prado is not in control of the points, he can’t lay up, he has to go for it and win again against his title rivals who have seen the door open – and they will be pushing hard to to blow it wide up.
Can Prado shut the door again?
