At 15 years and 53 days of age Ken Roczen is still the youngest Grand Prix winner, after his first GP victory came at home in Germany back in 2009. A year later Jeffrey Herlings won at the age of 15 years and 225 days.
Behind those two amazing talents, and just 16 and 102 days old Jorge Prado captured his first ever GP victory in Italy last year. The fourth youngest rider winning a GP is Dutchman Dave Strijbos (16 years and 172 days) followed by Frenchman Sebastien Tortelli (16 years and 345 days). You could say Prado is in good company.
We all know there is something special about Prado, and his at times reckless attitude to racing in 2017, is a similar path all the other teenage winners had in their early days, and what Prado maybe has in his advantage in 2018 is a new situation, one that has not only changed his life, but also his attitude to staying in Europe in his near future.
Like defending MX2 world champion Pauls Jonass, the Spanish rider has serious pedigree, having won the 2011 EMX 65cc championship, the 2011 Junior world championship, the 2014 EMX85cc championship and finally the 2015 EMX 125cc championship. Yes, like his older Latvian team-mate (or former team-mate) he knows how to win titles.
Surprising news came this month when Prado exited the Red Bull KTM MX2 Factory team, to move to the Red Bull KTM MX2 team of Claudio De Carli, also factory, but a totally different set-up away from the track.
The move to the more family orientated team, and under the watchful eye of GP legend Antonio Cairoli could be the change that takes Prado to a world title, be it this year or next. The family environment has also given Prado an unsure feeling about moving to America for the AMA supercross series.
Sometimes getting home is more enjoyable than making dollars, and it seems the De Carli family, as they did with Cairoli more than a decade ago, have given Prado a new look at what is really important in life.
We caught up with the very special youngster yesterday and he gave us his feelings about everything that is on his mind.
Jorge, the big news is you have changed teams. Can you tell me about it?
We moved to De Carli at KTM. So, I am in Italy, training and riding the bike down in Italy. I think we have a really good plan for this season.
Obviously you and Pauls were team-mates and rivals and there were complicated moments between you two. Is that the reason for the change?
No, not at all. They gave me the opportunity to go with Claudio, and he also wanted me. We decided to change.
You get the feeling that the De Carli team is very much a factory team, but it has a family atmosphere, a very warm group of people. How is it?
The team is a factory team, just like the team on the other side of the truck. The bikes are the same, but let’s say I am now working in Italy. For sure, its more like a family. Everybody who works for Claudio lives close to the team offices. The mechanic I have for practice is also my race mechanic, which on the other side I had different mechanics. It is more a family at De Carli, it is closer.
I can imagine working with De Carli, that you have a lot of contact with Antonio (Cairoli), is Antonio helping you at all?
I am living like 15 minutes from the house of Antonio, and he comes and takes coffee down-stairs around 8.30 in the morning. We spend time together, sometimes on days off we hang out and we train together. So, I have the nine times world champion riding for me and that is good also for him, to keep him motivated and for me seeing somebody I can learn from. See what he is doing and try it and seeing many options. It is important to know where my level needs to be. When I am riding close to him, it means I am riding very good.
It is actually funny, but when you think about it, you have a very similar riding style and mentality to Antonio. I remember when Antonio was younger, he often got in trouble with riders because he was very aggressive and wanted it so bad, and you seem to have that also. Do you feel that is correct?
I think that I do ride like him. We ride with the same type of style. Not all the riders in Grand Prix are good technically, and he is one rider who plays with the bike when riding, and I also like to ride like that. We do ride similar.
Tell me, now that you ride for De Carli, and you have this new relationship with Antonio, and its all like a big family. Has there been any talk of you maybe staying in Europe and moving to MXGP when Antonio retires and taking his place in the team. Maybe not going to America after all?
This change has been a really good change. I see things a lot different than before, and I am not sure I can find a team like this, with such a family feeling. They treat me since day one, unbelievable. So, this maybe effect my thoughts on coming seasons, or going to America. Its going to be difficult to find a team that cares so much about me. Of course, I would like to try and race supercross, but I am really comfortable right now.
But have you actually talked to De Carli about going to MXGP?
Not really, we just focus on 2018 and we want to do good first in Europe and we see how things come. My goal and the team’s goals is first to do good here.
Are you going into 2018 with the goal to be world champion?
It is hard to say. I mean there are so many guys who can go fast and be consistent and can win. I think I can be one of them, why not, but I think its going to be difficult. I would be happy with top three at the end of last year. Last year I was close to the top five and I had three races where I didn’t get points. If I can keep myself on two wheels the whole year and not missing motos with zeros, then I think the top five would be good, but I think we can aim a little higher. But its difficult to say, because it’s a long season and it hasn’t even started yet.
Your condition at the start of the years wasn’t that good, maybe because you are young, but also inexperienced, but as the season got older, you seemed to have better condition.
I think, I was well prepared, but in Qatar I didn’t feel good mentally and I expected more from myself. Mentally it was tough for me, then we went to Indonesia, where you could hardly ride, and I wasn’t used to those kind of conditions. Then we went to Argentina and I got second overall, and then Mexico I rode really bad. Those first four rounds, which were outside of Europe, I wasn’t used to that, the long flights, and different time schedules. When we returned to Europe, I started going better. In Agueda, I didn’t finish the motos, I was having problems with the heat and my physical condition also. School also took a lot of time and mentally and physically I was destroyed. Then I took a week and a half off after Agueda, and I got on the bike, two days before Loket and I was on the podium with three corners to go and crashed. From then on, I was riding better and end of the year I was strong. I won Lommel, one of the toughest tracks out there and very physical, but I did have some ups and downs in the season.
You mentioned you won in Lommel and looking at the calendar we have a lot of races in sand or circuits that are like sand.
I don’t really care. Most people, I can’t say I am not good in hard pack, but I feel good in hard pack. Sand I live in Belgium and we ride it every day and I have a good feeling there.
Starting in Argentina, are you happy about that?
Yes, I am really happy. Last year I rode really good there and it’s a Spanish speaking country and a lot of fans coming to support me. It’s one of the best tracks on the calendar.
Ray Archer images
