In a great interview with Ian Harrison on the MotoXPod with Jamie Guida, the KTM team manager spoke about his own long career in the sport, signing Eli Tomac and getting Jorge Prado back on KTM.
Ian said of Prado: On the Prado side, that decision was pretty easy because we have Robert Jonas, he’s the vice president of road racing in Austria and he hired Prado when he was a young kid. He told me and all he told me over and over again, ‘I believe in Jorge, I believe this guy is going to do it. I believe he can good in supercross, he has that ability. I’ve seen him as a young kid moved from Spain to Belgium and then you know adapt for the sand and so he really turned the tide for me, you know he can do it.
“Then I also saw Jorge when he came here with TLD on his 250f and he pretty much could get around the supercross track no problem back then. Then he came back on the GasGas bike and even then he won a heat race I believe in the mud in San Francisco. So, it wasn’t like he couldn’t do anything so then we were like, okay, the the nice thing about Jorge is he really wanted to come back, you know?
“So we told him we want nothing to do with with getting out of a contract – that is completely up to you. Once you sort all of that out and it’s finished and you can get out of it clean, then yes, we can give you a ride and that’s how that one came about.
And until his injury Prado was on fire, proving himself right about last year and his lack of trust in the Kawasaki, with heat race wins, a podium and fastest laps in qualifying in the opening six rounds, Prado even though he is now injured has shown the gamble he and KTM took on each other has already worked out.
On the secret of Eli Tomac being so good, Ian said: “Eli… it’s like I always wondered about this guy because he’s quiet, he’s reserved, you don’t know much about them but he’s been a pain in our side for like 15 years! You always are like, ‘dang this guy’s always here, he’s always good.’ And you wonder what makes him tick, it’s just that simple thing work ethic, no excuses and riding hard and giving it his best and that’s simple stuff pays the bills, you know?”
