Image: Foremost Media.

Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Jo Shimoda’s victory at Ironman saved Kawasaki from recording its first winless season in over 40 years, becoming the lone KX rider to win a round in Pro Motocross or Monster Energy Supercross this year.

The 21-year-old Japanese rider – linked to Team Honda HRC for 2024 – delivered a dominant conclusion to the outdoors with an important 1-1 result that handed him the overall.

Shimoda qualified fifth fastest to commence round 11 and made a solid start to slot into fourth in the opening moto, before working his way forward to take the lead from Tom Vialle (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) on lap eight.

From there, Shimoda rode on to take a 7.696s victory ahead of Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing), and backed that up in moto two as he took P1 from teammate Ryder DiFrancesco on lap five to then make it a perfect day out and to finish the series on a high note.

Shimoda’s 50-point haul from the final round saw him clinch P3 in the 250MX standings following a late-season surge, just six points back from Justin Cooper (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) in second position.

“In my mind today, honestly, I forgot about the championship,” Shimoda said. “It’s the last race too, I feel like I came into the track having a nice breakfast, and just good vibes all day. My goal was to just stay chill, have fun and really just enjoy this environment and racing. I guess that turned out to be pretty good.”

Shimoda was victorious in moto two at Southwick this year, but until the weekend, Kawasaki had not won a Pro Motocross round or Supercross main event this season. Thanks to Shimoda’s success, Kawasaki maintains its Monster Energy Supercross and Pro Motocross win-streak that dates back to 1982.

“I didn’t know, I got off the track after the second moto and one of the Kawi guys told me ‘oh, you kept the streak’,” he explained. “I’m like, ‘what streak are you talking about?’. After hearing that, they have been awesome to me, they have been working hard, so I’m just stoked to have some kind of result on the table and just happy for them.”