Shimoda: "I still need to find a little more speed to really challenge for the win"

Overshadowed by Haiden Deegan’s 1-1-1-1 start to the season, Honda HRC Progressive’s Jo Shimoda has also had an impressive, and consistent start to the year, finishing second in all four motos so far. This might be even more impressive considering Jo qualified 12^th at Hangtown with a 1:58.8 compared to Deegan’s 1:56.5.

What’s more impressive is Jo did not start up front in either moto at Hangtown. He came around the first lap in the first moto in ninth, and fifth in the second moto, having to work his way into second both motos. 

Shimoda was not in the post-race press conference Saturday, but he said the following in a post-race press release from Honda:

Before the 2025 season, Shimoda was never known to start a season strong. But he turned things around in Monster Energy AMA Supercross by winning the opener at Anaheim 1 (before breaking two fingers at round two). Now with a strong start in outdoors, if he continues his normal upward trajectory as the season goes on, he could be challenging for wins sooner than later.