Slaw
For much of the lead up to the 250SX East Division opener in Arlington, TX, there wasn’t much talk surrounding Jo Shimoda.
Not because he wasn’t worthy–he was coming off an SMX Playoff Championship after all–but because he wasn’t expected to race. Sure, there was talk about Jo coming back “at some point” this Supercross season. But, the opener? No chance…
Well, Jo DID make it back and looked fantastic less than three months after he crashed and sustained two fractured and displaced vertebrae in his upper back and lower neck around Thanksgiving. Jo was the early leader in the 250SX main event before he rolled two doubles in a row after seeing a red flashing light, which allowed Pierce Brown to close the gap and eventually pass for the lead. (The AMA has ruled no violation occurred.)
While second might be a disappointment for some, it has to feel like a win for Jo, who a few weeks ago wasn’t even sure if he would be racing.
He spoke with the media following the race:
As it stands right now, P2, and we’ll talk about the race, but just to be back in this position after the injury that you sustained was a major one. So what’s it feel like to be back in podium contention?
Jo Shimoda: Yeah, I mean just to race here tonight, it just came last minute. Two weeks ago, I got approved by a doctor for me to ride again and just coming off from last year, I just want to keep building my momentum and honestly, I’m just happy to be here.
Jo, I was talking to your Joe Cancellieri around A1, and I know even then he was very high on the chance of you being able to line up for East Coast. He seemed pretty excited about it. I know you say you got clearance a couple weeks ago, but even before then, did you think it was reality? Did you up your off-the-bike preparation in any way to prepare for this thinking that hey, you know would only have limited time on the bike to come race this championship?
Yeah, see, I think I get paid to race and go do good out there and it’s my job to line up and race, but at the same time, the neck, this injury is pretty sensitive for… It’s a big one, and, honestly, I got approved by a doctor, but you never know until you go back riding again, right? And I felt comfortable and strong enough and me and Joe have been working hard doing the right preparation, right rehab. So whenever the time comes, I don’t feel too far off. But I would say I was, honestly, I was pretty rusty all day long today, but ended up good. So I’ll take it.
Yeah, you mentioned qualifying, I think you were 15th or so at one point. Were there any nerves after qualifying to start with?
Yeah, well and also just not riding and I mean I haven’t been doing a lot of testing either. So my bike was kind of the same thing from last year and I kind of struggled a little bit last year and just each session we got a little bit better, a little bit better, and by the main event comes around, I’m like, “Let’s just make it stiff enough to where I can kind of send it,” and we, I don’t know, shift the focus to jumping whoops or get a good start, just focus on the things I can do. And for tonight it was okay.
And then whenever Pierce was ahead of you, it looked like you were playing it smart, not forcing it. You showed him a wheel a couple times. Could you just talk about the approach? It seemed like you were playing the long game, but you were showing him a wheel, showing him you were there. I guess talk through managing, not forcing it.
Yeah, because it’s my first round too, and it’s like I kind of had a pace to get him, but at the same time, do I really need it just running? Because the track felt like It had a lot of room to move around, but all the lines he was taking was out to in and I could have just kind of jump into the inside and make him pass, but I wasn’t really getting close enough to where I can do that. So for tonight I’m fine with P2 and we just going to build from here.
There was a little confusion with the red light as you crossed the finish line mid-race. Have you heard any more about that? Have you guys checked into it?
So I think it’s under investigation right now. I did see a red light on the double, so I had to slow down. I had to roll the jump and I couldn’t get enough momentum to jump the finish line because the finish line wasn’t on. But when I went through it was red but no one was down. It wouldn’t make sense to me if someone was down before I hit the jump and right when I rolled the jump, it turned off, it makes sense. But if not, then I think it’s fair enough to have the points given to me. I mean, I think it was like 2.5 or 3 seconds. I mean I couldn’t jump this whole rhythm section, so it was big. It was a big one and three points it’s matters maybe at the end of the year, but we’ll see. It’s under investigation right now.
Can you just talk about the intensity of being back in a main event was such short amount of time to even prepare for this? Like was there moments of the race that you thought, “Let me just settle and take a second here because I kind of need to go into the season healthy.”?
Yeah, yeah, like I said, I was feeling pretty rusty, but this is every time to me, my adrenaline just kicks in at the race. I just never can really flip the switch from the practice and when the race time comes on, it’s just like just everything just seems to turn on. So I was honestly a little bit tired at the end, but also there’s a lot of things. On the bike I still feel uncomfortable. We just have… Honestly, I’m just behind.
So you just mentioned there’s still things on the bike that you feel uncomfortable with. Did you make lots of changes throughout the day on the bike?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we mostly just suspension stuff, made improvements little by little and like I said, yeah, main event, we made things stiff enough to where okay, we just send it for tonight. But yeah, I do need to work on it and, I mean, I think we only going to get better from here.
Going go back a few months ago. Obviously the injury takes you down and then we’re able to get back to this point and you will tell yourself then that you were going to be in the points battle lead race, lead laps and put yourself in position in the championship. How do you tell yourself that back then?
Honestly, I don’t even know. My goal was to coming into this round, it was just top 10, maybe top 8 and good side top 5. But like I said, everything just kicked in on the race. I think I’m just a racer. Everything felt good. I felt sharp, but like I said, I think we have lots of things to work on. I can be a lot better and I think we just have to get back to the work. It’s a long series too.
Photos: octopi.media
