Jo Shimoda was the third best guy at Washougal going, 3-3 for third overall behind Haiden Deegan and Tom Vialle, who swapped moto wins. This was Shimoda’s third podium finish of the year as it has taken him a bit to adjust to his new ride at HRC Honda. Unfortunately for Jo, he is developing a reputation as someone who falters at the beginning of a series only to come on strong at the end. An example of this would be how it took him until nine rounds in to snag a win at the Denver supercross this year, or how he didn’t win an AMA Pro Motocross national in 2023 until the final round.
Usually a man of few words, Jo spoke on this topic at the post-race press conference:
“Mentality-wise I'm the same, like from the first round to now, nothing has changed. The program is the same, the way I train is the same. Just, I feel like, sometimes the small details like where people don't understand is like if the motorcycle, maybe a little bit me. Just figuring out it's a whole different new motorcycle and you know, even last year, the model changes, it's like those small things takes me a little bit of time to get used to or like finding some level of comfort to where I can push, like how I wanna ride. So, you have, I don't know, 10 to 15 races to figure it out. For sure, like at some time you’re gonna figure it out at the end of the year. And, I don't know, try not to do the same next year for sure.”
Still Jo has had some good motos this summer, but those were all a result of him riding strong at the end of the motos. Not holding back in his critique of himself, in his eyes he has no choice but to push until the end. He actually admits he's not fast enough early, so he can only maximize his results by keeping his pace going longer than others.
“Right now, I feel good but compared to these two guys [Haiden Deegan and Tom Vialle], I feel like I'm kind of lacking on pace right now. I mean, this all starts from qualify, right? Like I haven't been able to be consistently in top five. So, a little bit of lack of pace so all I can do is kind of, you know, keep my average speed to the end and I kind of have no option to drop back. So, push as much as I can. But yeah, gonna need to find a little more pace.”
Taking the blame and admitting he does not have the pace of the top guys is quite commendable. You rarely hear it. There has been another change that Jo feels has helped him lately, and that is the change of the 250-class running second in the running order, with 450s first. That's the way it worked at Washougal.
“I personally like it and it slows the race down too. I think it's like, first couple of laps when they fix the track, everybody's kind of sending it and I kind of don't like that where if you have the second moto, everybody slows the pace down and then you have more options in the corners. So, I feel like less of like a friction with other riders. And to me, I feel a lot safer too and it separates the good and the bad.”
There is now two weeks off before the next round at Unadilla. The 250s will be going first at that one. Can Jo get to work and find the pace he needs to end this season just as strong as he did 2023?
