Prado, Adamo Clinch Titles In Italy
R
ound 18, the penultimate race
of the FIM Motocross World
Championship, was held on Ital-
ian hillsides of Maggiora Park
for the MXGP of Italy, September
16-17. Rains soaked the track in
the days leading up to the Grand
Prix, which made for slick and
challenging conditions on race
day. Yamaha's Jeremy Seewer
and Jago Geerts were the day's
GP winners, but Jorge Prado and
Andrea Adamo clinched the over
-
all championships in the 450cc
and 250cc classes, respectively.
Prado stacked the odds in his
favor with a holeshot and the
early lead in race one. Seewer
and title rival, Romain Febvre,
stayed close in the early stages,
but a crash and a later bike
malfunction dropped Febvre out
of the race. Febvre's misfortune
allowed Prado to run away with
the race win and clinch the title
in the process. Seewer finished
second, with Alberto Forato in
third.
Race two saw Prado sport-
ing his new gold number-one
plate at the front of the field. He
battled the frustrated Febvre for
the first few laps before the Ka-
wasaki rider earned his redemp-
tion by taking control of the lead.
Febvre ran away with the win
over Tim Gajser. Behind them,
Prado dropped back and eventu-
ally fell to sixth, dropping him
out of the overall win. Seewer
climbed up to fourth, which gave
him the best score of the GP.
After all of the shake-ups in the
results, Seewer took the overall
with 2-4 finishes ahead of Prado
and Ruben Fernandez.
"I didn't even know I won the
GP," said Seewer. "Things fell in
my favor for once, which was
nice. I feel like it was my turn to
have some luck after so many
stints of bad luck this season. I
was super happy with my riding
today, which was actually noth
-
ing special because the track did
not have too many lines."
"I am so happy," Prado said.
"It is a pity about that mistake
in the second moto, but I am
the new world champion. So
much hard work has gone into
this, from myself and the team,
and I knew that I could make
WIND
IN THE
P44
GasGas' Jorge Prado
celebrates clinching
the 2023 MXGP title
at Maggiora Park,
the Spaniard's first
premier-class world
championship.
