Since his debut in Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Jo Shimoda has been competitive and towards the front of the pack. However, he had not truly been in the championship battle after the first few rounds, as he usually catches fire late in the season. His first two 250SX main event wins came at the eighth (’21 Salt Lake City 1 SX) and ninth (’24 Denver SX) round of the respective season, both the penultimate rounds those years. And Shimoda’s starts to the season have been 10-4-7-4-4, with an average of almost sixth. His ten 250SX podiums entering the 2025 season have all come after his second race of the season (And his stats in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship: 19 overall podiums with only one season opener podium (in 2022) and his three overall wins after at least the halfway mark).

He earned five top-ten 250SX finishes as a rookie in 2020, but since then he has mostly been around the top five range, with finishes closer to the podium than away from it. Shimoda entered the 2025 season with championship finishes of:
3rd (2020 250SX East)
2nd (2021 250SX East)
4th (2022 250SX West)
13th (2023 East, after collarbone caused him to start SX halfway through)
4th (2024 250SX West)

But the beginning rounds had cost him valuable points. 

Jo Shimoda's First Two SX Races of Seasons

Shimoda has not been a horrible starter in his career, he just has not been consistently getting great starts. The biggest takeaway over the last year or so has been his goal to start the ball rolling better as soon as possible. Get the ball rolling in qualifying, which leads to a better heat race gate position, which can lead to a better heat race result, which can lead to a better main event gate pick, which can lead to a better main event start, which can lead to a better main event finish—although much easier said than done.

Well, on Saturday, Shimoda did exactly what he needed to: get out front early. Fourth in qualifying then fourth in his heat race set him up for the seventh gate pick. Not horrible, but not great. But even after a few riders flew into the first turn ahead of him, Shimoda positioned himself perfectly and jumped out of the first turn in the race lead. From there, he knows what to do. He rode steady, not making any mistakes. He rode fast, holding off a young, amped-up Julien Beaumer, and putting in the fastest lap of the race while doing so (a 1:05.790 on the eighth lap of the 15-lap race). And he took the checkered flag. The less-than-stellar early season result monkey is now off his back.

“Yeah, it's just, my goal is to start the season good, and this is the best way to do it, so no, I feel really, really stoked,” he said in the post-race press conference.