Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Jo Shimoda returned to racing this weekend after breaking his collarbone at the end of January earlier this year just before 250SX East Region was about to start. Shimoda expected to factor in the championship fight alongside Hunter Lawrence this season, but he instead spent two months on the sidelines recovering. Even with no championship to fight for, he still returned to supercross to give it a go for the final four rounds and get some much-needed gate drops.
He would end up fourth on the day at Atlanta after going fastest in free practice and crashing on the first lap of his heat race. His focus is on the AMA Pro Motocross Championship, but he has not raced since the 2022 Pro Motocross finale. Starting at a huge speedway and then rolling right into a Dave Coombs Sr. East/West Showdown next weekend isn’t ideal for Shimoda, but these gate drops were too important to miss. We spoke with him afterwards about it.
Racer X: It was your 2023 season debut, talk us through everything this weekend.
Jo Shimoda: I was high on the nerves today. I haven’t raced for half a year, so it was a little bit stressful in the beginning but I’m just happy with not making super dumb decisions and get through this day. I just have to build this confidence, you know? It doesn’t come in one second, so you have to go race by race. My main goal is for outdoors. My goal is to have a stronger mindset for outdoors and hopefully do that.
Like you mentioned with outdoors, you’ve probably been riding a lot of outdoors, just kind of getting ready for that championship. Not that you were going to skip supercross but that probably helped you with the lap times being so long today and more of a brutal track versus a tight supercross track. What was that like?
Honestly, people say it’s a half and half track, but riding with supercross suspension… I don’t go ride supercross suspension on an outdoor track, so I was more prepared for a normal type of supercross. It’s just so much different. It’s hard to ride your 100 percent when it feels a little uncomfortable or you didn’t have this race mindset for a while. I struggled with that but race by race I think it should be better and better.
![Jo Shimoda finished fourth in his first Monster Energy AMA Supercross race of the season.]()
Jo Shimoda finished fourth in his first Monster Energy AMA Supercross race of the season. Align Media ![]()
"I’m just racing right now just to get the feeling back. Travel to these places and get on the gate with everyone because you just can’t if you’re not racing for half a year and go straight to a winning mentality. ...The confidence doesn’t come in one second." - Jo Shimoda Align Media ![]()
Align Media ![]()
Align Media
You hurt your ankle last year, but it was right before the West break, and this year you were supposed to race East so was that tough on you mentally sitting at home watching the races? Were you able to watch them? That’s probably a new process for you, having the first big injury since you turned pro. What’s the mindset like where you’re training for it and getting ready for it but missing that time?
Yeah, like you said, I’ve never been in this position where I got hurt and missed half of the season. Every time you watch races and you’re sitting on the couch questioning yourself like, “What have you done? What am I doing right now?” I just had to keep a positive attitude. The practicing was pretty hard because for six months I’ve just been doing the practices, so the motivation wasn’t really high because you just don’t know when you can go back to the racing. But I think it’s fun right now.
What are you looking forward to with the East/West Showdown next week? Just kind of getting back into it or do you think that will help you just with racing some fast guys ahead of Pro Motocross?
I just want to get a better start for the next one. I still just have to build the confidence back, so no need to be crazy pushing. Obviously, I’m out of the championship, so I’ll just do what’s best for me and prepare as much as I can for outdoors. That’s my goal.
With outdoors as your goal, with the SuperMotocross World Championship, is that why you came back for supercross? Obviously, you want to get some gate drops to get ready for Pro Motocross, but that’s got to be a benefit for you here if you’re able to score some points heading into the final three SMX playoff races, right?
Yeah, I’m just racing right now just to get the feeling back. Travel to these places and get on the gate with everyone because you just can’t if you’re not racing for half a year and go straight to a winning mentality. There’s no way. You have to take your time and step back and reflect and then you just have to build. The confidence doesn’t come in one second.
