JORGE PRADO – GAINING GROUND

Defending MXGP World Champion Jorge Prado opened up his Indonesian experience with a victory last weekend, and while that win isn’t enough to give the Spaniard the red plate back, he gained valuable points on series leader Tim Gajser of the HRC factory team.

While winning the Grand Prix, Prado felt that the points gained was one of the highlights of the weekend, but having scored his 45th GP victory, also moved a step closer to Joel Robert, who has 50 and Joel Smets, on 57. Two of the greatest motocross riders of all time. As he told us, points and GP wins matter a lot in this stage of his season.

“Yes,” Prado said. “Everything matters, also the GP win. Gaining another GP victory makes me very happy and it is needed for the confidence to prove the hard work, so a little bit of both. We made good ground on Tim, especially in that second race. Super happy about the weekend.”

As for his rivals, Jeffrey Herlings and Gajser, the GASGAS rider still feels he is superior, when the conditions suit him, but knows that both the Dutchman and the Slovenian are stronger in conditions that suit them.

“I mean, its close when we have mud races. I feel in dry conditions, there is still some gap. Look for example myself in Lugo, with dry conditions, in the qualification race, from P6 or something, I went and won the moto. Passing all these guys in front in the championship and the ones in the back, so, no. For sure there isn’t a big gap, Tim, Jeffrey and I are pretty similar. One guy is riding better in mud conditions another guy is riding better in dry and rutty another guy might be better when its more slippery and that makes it fun for the spectators.”

And the week between the first Indonesian round in Lombok and the second has been spent not only working, but also enjoying his time in Indonesia, a country that gives so much for us the paddock people and a place Prado can find a great place to train, but also spend time with friends, family and his GASGAS team.

“The day has 24 hours; I think we can do a little bit of both (training and enjoying). With this nice weather, I think we can enjoy, but we keep putting the work in and get fit for the next one. I am not sure where we are going, but another part of the island which is good for training and I have some Spanish friends here, so will spend some time with them.”

But soon, this weekend in fact, Prado will put his mind back into business mode and try and once again beat his main rivals and head home to Europe with even more momentum that he collected last weekend. Always looking to gain the upper-hand and get closer to that red plate.

Photo Credit : GasGas