Image: Octopi Media.

Team Honda HRC’s Jo Shimoda entered AMA Pro Motocross with an ankle injury he sustained at Salt Lake City. With limited testing coming into the season and while still battling the injury, Shimoda quietly clocked in his first top five finish of the season with P5 at Hangtown.

Though the results are still not where Shimoda expects to be, his 7-5 scores were a welcomed sight for the Honda rider following a frustrating opening round.

“I didn’t get full arm pump two motos in a row like I did last week,” said Shimoda. “Quite big changes we’ve made in this last week, and they worked out a little bit. I still can’t ride how I want to ride, so I still need to figure out the bike and myself. It’s a whole different bike, so I just have to put in some work.

“It definitely still bothers me. My ankle is pretty torn up. Transitioning from Supercross to outdoors, I only rode maybe once. I’m still in pain, but if you start complaining about the pain, you’re going to have something every weekend. So, I’ll just forget about that.”

While Shimoda has been working through the pain, he’s also been changing his bike to adjust to the difference in riding style since he can’t put the same pressure on his ankle he normally does. Team Honda HRC team manager Lars Lindstrom says that’s a balance they are continually trying to work through at the moment from week to week.

“That’s always something that’s difficult when you have a nagging injury,” said Lindstrom. “He hasn’t complained about it. He’s toughing it out I think and what he likes on the bike is different than what the Lawrence’s had and what Chance has right now. It’s a little different direction than what we’re used to, but we’re trusting him on this and trying to work with him to make him happy so he can get the results we know he deserves.”