The work continues for Jorge Prado and Monster Energy Kawasaki. While the results don't really show much improvement—his 7-5 for sixth at RedBud was similar to his 5-6 for fifth last week at Southwick—there are definitely some much-needed signs of life here. First, there were questions coming into the weekend to see if he could maintain a similar spot to Southwick. Last weekend Jorge was talking about how fast he is in sand. Could he maintain that pace at RedBud? Not dropping back to his less-than-top-ten results that we saw at Thunder Valley and High Point was key. He accomplished that.

Even better, he led laps in 450 moto two and passed Jett Lawrence briefly on the first lap of 450 moto one. In other words, he showed signs of speed we did not see at the first few rounds of the series. 

“This was a step in the right direction for me," said Prado in a Monster Energy Kawasaki statement. "This week we did a lot of work on the bike, and we will keep building on that. I’ve been out riding on the East Coast and testing different things, and the team has been very supportive with making all the changes back in California. Being up front today was a very comfortable feeling for me. It helped me understand the bike more and the areas we can work on. I just need to keep training and testing, and I know we can be on the podium soon.”

Kawasaki test rider Broc Tickle appeared on Steve Matthes' PulpMX Show last week and mentioned testing an engine after Southwick that was then shipped to Prado to ride in South Carolina at ClubMX. Crew Chief Oscar Wirdeman was dispatched from California to the Carolinas again last week to help with the work. Oscar told us the changes they made the week between Southwick and RedBud were larger steps than they had made at any point during this process, and he was optimistic it would translate into better performance on race day. 

Chad Reed is also assisting Prado now. Reed recently purchased a house on the ClubMX property so his children could ride and train full time, but he's also hooked in Wirdeman, who worked with Reed as a mechanic with L&M Yamaha, and then later Reed hired him to work for his own TwoTwo Motorsports squad.

These still aren't the podiums or wins that Prado, a four time FIM Motocross World Champion, would like, but it's a whole lot better than the 12-23 he put together at High Point.