At his first-ever pro supercross—Indianapolis in 2010—Jimmy Decotis established a pattern. The Peabody, Massachusetts, native blitzed to the front in his heat race and battled stalwarts like Austin Stroupe and Justin Barcia for a few laps. That kind of flash drew eyeballs, but by the end of the night, the privateer would finish the main in a lowly twentieth place.
Speed, excitement, attention? Check.
Over the next few years, Jimmy D would become one of the most popular riders at his level, but actual top-five results were rare.
He’s trying to fix that this year, picking up an old-school riding coach in Gary Bailey (and, full disclosure, our own Racer X Virtual Trainer Tim Crytser is helping Jimmy with his physical fitness). Through the pre-season, we heard a lot about Jimmy really buckling down, but when the 250SX East season started, he did terribly, with fifteenth- and sixteenth-place finishes.
“I believe I should be better,” Jimmy told our Steve Matthes. “Honestly what it is this year and what it was those first two rounds was I put too much pressure on myself. Years past we’ve all known I’ve kind of slacked off a little. This year I’ve made the right decisions and done the right things and I just expected so much out of myself because I did so good in years past not really doing the right thing. I just had fun this week. I rode with my buddies and I just enjoyed myself and said, ‘You know what? You can’t really get worse than what I’ve been doing.’ And it helped.”
Behind the scenes, Bailey helped Jimmy dial in his suspension. The whoops are the biggest separator between factory bikes and privateer rides in supercross, and in Atlanta Bailey explained that Jimmy’s suspension was just too soft when the season started. When you slam soft forks into a whoop, the whole bike pitches forward, it feels like you’re going over the bars, and it’s over. Bailey told us Jimmy had his suspension set much better for Atlanta 2, and it showed immediately in practice, where the speed and flash we’re used to seeing shined through, with frequent trips to the top of the qualifying board.
But speed is one thing—could Jimmy finally deliver with fifteen solid main event laps? He finally did, riding tenaciously the whole way, around sixth. With a lap to go, Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Arnaud Tonus was in front of him, but Tonus was fading fast (he’d later reveal he was having problems with low blood sugar). Decotis had the strength to take advantage, and he ran Tonus down and then pulled out some of his old flash and sizzle with a daring pass in a rhythm lane, tripling to the inside of a corner and moving Tonus out of the way.
“I went into the turn, I thought I had him in the turn but I was too nice,” said Decotis, who rides for Team Riverside Harley Davidson/Trail Jesters/SOB MX. “I just figured if he went double, double, single, I had him. He tripled it. As soon as I saw him in the air I said, “Here we go; I have to do it.” I tried to land left so I wouldn’t land on him, but he kind of cut into me and it was just a racing incident, it really was.”
With the pass, Decotis landed in the top five, a massive improvement from his first two races, but he still wants more. “I know fifth is so much better than sixth, and the way I’ve been going it just wasn’t good enough for me. Where I was up front, I should have been there the whole race. It was better. I know I need to get on the podium for the teams to notice me, though.
“I did still get really tight, and that was my biggest thing was I had arm pump. I knew Tonus was just as tired as me, if not more tired, and I knew I had to get the pass. I just bonzaied it, I really did.”
This time, Jimmy D finally had both—his typical flash when needed, and solid laps in between those moments. After a slow start to the season, it looks like it’s onward and upward from here.
