What a strong last three races it has been for Jorge Prado. First, he ended the AMA Pro Motocross Championship season with a 1-1 day at Ironman. He went into the first SMX Playoff round seeded second behind Hunter Lawrence. Then after a third place overall in the mud in Columbus for Prado, and a disastrous 15th overall for Lawrence, Prado took over the points lead. Holding the red plate for the first time since coming to the United States of American, fans saw a more confident Jorge Prado in Las Angeles, California.
Of course, the fans also saw a lot of action at SMX Playoff 2. The two moto, Olympic scored, format means riders need to get two good starts, be consistent, minimize mistakes and have speed for two 20 minute +1 lap motos. Take for instance Ken Roczen who has not been racing all summer long, he had plenty of speed in moto one and then fell flat in moto two. Even more than speed, consistency is most important in the SMX format, and Jorge Prado had both in LA.
After losing the early lead to Ken Roczen in the first moto, Jorge came on strong at the end, pressuring Ken right to the checkered flag. Then in the second moto, which might have been the most exciting race of 2026, Jorge took over the lead with an aggressive pass on Hunter, only to lose the lead a half of a lap later when he cased a quad. With Hunter getting fourth in the first moto all Jorge had to do was get second to get the overall. Seemed simple enough until Jorge went down in the sand and went back to fourth. With double points on the line, plus the two moto format, Jorge went from having the points lead to losing it with that crash. With such a short series, every pass is important and no one is settling for a position. Jorge made his way back around Ken and then Haiden Deegan also went down in the sand, allowing Jorge to retake second in the moto and the overall victory.
"My goal was to get to second after I took a crash and that’s exactly what I did." -Jorge Prado on his way to a 2-2 for the overall in LA.Align Media
Jorge spoke about his crash in the post-race press conference.
“When I crashed I was like, ‘Man, if I thought I was in a good spot, now I’m not in a good spot. Now I really gotta fight,’" he said. "I already thought I was fight[ing] but now I really need to dig and get to the guys in front of me. I mean, I am not really good when I crash, to get back in the fight quick, but for some reason today I was quick. I was again in the fight, and I catch the guys up front and I was doing good lap times, physically I was feeling perfect. So, why not hammer down and let’s try to get the win. I knew Hunter was too far but my goal in those laps was just to get to second. And I knew, I didn’t have to make too difficult calculations, that I was going to be the overall winner. My goal was to get to second after I took a crash and that’s exactly what I did. It was tough. A couple of laps my heart was going.”
Saturday may have been the best we have seen Prado ride, and even Jorge himself noticed a change.
“I have been in this position before, so I feel like I am capable of dealing with the pressure," he said. "For some reason every time I get the red plate, it doesn’t matter if it is here in the States like right now, or back in Europe, I just feel better. I feel more confident and my riding just gets better for some reason. So, it looks like the red plate suits me a lot.”
Some riders crumble under the weight of the red plate, but for Jorge it gives him confidence. And if he can carry this confidence and riding into this coming weekend at the finale, Jorge might be in for a large pay day, as well as his first championship stateside.
Prado has a large margin, a 16-point lead, but with triple points on the line next weekend he still needs to finish on the podium. Which is easier said than done when there are at least five guys with podium speed at the moment.
“It's hard because, getting on the podium, it's never easy. You can’t go to the next race with the mentality that ‘podium is okay.’ No. You probably won’t even end up on the podium with a mentality like that because these guys are super-fast." -Jorge Prado, who need to land on the podium in Missouri to claim the SMX World Championship. Align Media
“It's hard because, getting on the podium, it's never easy," Prado said. "You can’t go to the next race with the mentality that ‘podium is okay.’ No. You probably won’t even end up on the podium with a mentality like that because these guys are super-fast. My goal for the next round, it's the same; try to win. I know if I win, I get the title, that’s 100 percent sure. So, I stick to those facts.”
It is crazy to think that last year Prado and his relationship with the Monster Energy Kawasaki had gone so south that the team benched him for the SMX Playoffs AND the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations. Now, he is leading the damn thing with a shot at the title just one year later!
Will Jorge be able to pull it off and win the Monster Energy SuperMotocross World Championship? The only thing that is for sure is James Stewart better get his popcorn ready because it is bound to be an exciting finale.