Jorge Prado on MX Opener: “I’m a little bit disappointed. I expected more, but realistically, it’s fair that we struggled”

With the start of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, we saw a handful of top factory riders returning from injuries suffered in Monster Energy AMA Supercross. One of them was Jorge Prado, who made his Pro Motocross debut on Saturday. The four-time FIM Motocross World Champion (2018 and 2019 MX2 Champion and 2023 and 2024 MXGP Champion) lined up for his first Pro Motocross round just a few months after a shoulder injury ended his debut full 450SX after only two races.

Expecting to be a race winner and championship contender, Prado finished 7-6 for sixth overall in his first motocross race on his Monster Energy Kawasaki KX450.

After the race, the Kawasaki team press release quoted Prado saying the following about his Pro Motocross debut:

“Round 1 is done here at Fox Raceway and I’m a little bit disappointed. I expected more, but realistically, it’s fair that we struggled. I’m coming off an injury, and on top of that, I’ve never raced outdoors on the Kawasaki. We only had four weeks on the new bike, trying to build a setup, so it’s normal that it wasn’t 100%. But that’s the mentality of a racer—you always want to be battling up front. And as a world champion, even more so, especially when you’re used to it. Still, the season has started. We got some good feedback, we know what to work on, and hopefully the next rounds will be better. Qualifying was okay—nothing crazy. I was trying to push a bit to get a better start. I made some passes on the first lap, but then I lost the rear wheel of the rider ahead and had to push to the end. I was catching the two guys ahead of me in the final laps, but it wasn’t quite enough. The second moto was P6—a little better than the first one. Small steps. I did my best, and that’s what counts.”

Prado posted the following short caption on Instagram:

“P.6 overall :/
@racekawasaki and I will keep working hard ⛏️
Matter of time…”