Image: Octopi Media.

Victory in moto two at Southwick marked the first 250MX race win of the season for Jo Shimoda, signalling a mid-season uplift for the Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider after a tough start to Pro Motocross 2023.

Shimoda won five motos and the Unadilla overall last season on his way to a runner-up result outdoors behind Jett Lawrence (Team Honda HRC), which saw him enter this year as a title favorite.

Admittedly struggling across the first five rounds, Shimoda failed to stand on the overall podium in the opening races and qualified 12th fastest to commence round six at Southwick.

The Japanese rider then rode to a P6 finish in moto one, before taking the lead from round winner Tom Vialle (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) on lap six in the second moto and stretching out a 4.079s winning margin to conclude the weekend.

“To be honest, I’ve been struggling since this whole outdoors season,” said Shimoda. “Throughout the week I’ve been basically only testing, so it was just hard for me to get this flow going, going to the race and doing two 30s at full pace. Today having a win, I think the team deserved it more than I do. I know they are working super hard for me and finally to get to show something on the table, so I am happy for them.”

Shimoda’s 6-1 scorecard landed him third overall at Southwick, as he is now just 20 points from red plate-holder Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) and enters round seven of the 2023 Pro Motocross Championship in Millville this Saturday fourth in the standings.