Jo Shimoda: Japan’s Rising Star

With podiums and race wins in the AMA Supercross and Motocross categories in 2025, along with being crowned the SuperMotocross 250 champion and representing Japan at the Motocross of Nations this year, you could say it’s been, not only a busy time for Jo Shimoda, but a successful one.

From Suzuka, in Japan, the 23 year old was destined to spend a life on two wheels having been introduced by his father when he was very young.

“I got involved in motocross because of my dad, he used to ride and when I was young we would do a lot of outside activities like camping, riding pit bikes, building tracks.  One day he got me a bike for Christmas and since then I’d been riding a little bit and a little bit more and that turned into racing and it kind of got serious since then, so that’s how I got into it.”

In his twelfth year of racing in the United States, a young Shimoda came home from school one day to find that they would be packing their bags and heading to America a week later and that was just the start of his Transatlantic career.

Shimoda started the 2025 Supercross season in style, winning round one in Anaheim and this was his first 250SX victory with Honda HRC Progessive and the third of his career.  At the following round in San Diego, he held the red plate as the championship leader for the first time in his career.  However, things soon turned against him, testing both his mental and physical strength in a decisive way.

“I had a broken pinky in San Diego when I hit a pit board and it was honestly sad because I came in with the red plate, feeling good, confident, the bike was good and then all of a sudden, everything shut down out of my control, so it was hard to swallow in the moment, but I kinda kept racing to add on some points.  Now we have SMX series which which combines SuperCross and  Pro MotoCross points and maybe if I didn’t race that, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to fight for first in SMX.  So the moment I broke my hand it was not good but now that I look back, I’m glad that I pushed through."

Tough races followed and despite still recovering from injury he fought hard to finish the Supercross season in a respectable fourth place in the 250 West standings.  

Multiple wins and podiums were to follow in the outdoor Pro Motocross series, where Shimoda really started to come into his own and at the first round at Fox Raceway he started the season with a strong 2-2 result, finishing second overall.

At RedBud, he delivered perfect results at the Honda sponsored event, claiming his first overall victory of 2025 by winning both Moto 1 and Moto 2.

“For me it was quite a big improvement this year, the second year with HRC.  Me and the team this year did a really good job addressing everything we needed and kept a steady progress which helped me a lot.  The more time I spend with the team, it’s just getting better and better.”

Shimoda ended the season in second in the Pro Motocross 250 standings, a reward for his hard work after that challenging Supercross season. 

At the opening SuperMotocross Playoffs round, Shimoda managed to finish third despite a crash in the first moto and was ready to fight in the second moto; however, it was cancelled due to severe weather.

His inner strength was demonstrated in the second round at St. Louis where he struggled with illness but still managed an impressive 2-2 performance that was enough to place him on the top step of the podium. This also propelled him into the lead in the 250 standings with a 10-point margin heading into the finale.

Moto 2 of the SMX Final under the Las Vegas lights brought drama, as championship rival Haiden Deegan made several aggressive moves, causing both riders to crash.  Despite the incident, Shimoda kept pushing until the end and finished 1-2 with a last-lap pass, becoming the AMA SMX 250 Champion, the first Japanese rider to do so. 

“I feel like I did a pretty good job to stay calm and keep my composure.  Most importantly for me finishing with the title was accomplishing something and it was the thing I was looking for more than the money or the contract extension.”

Shimoda made history not only in AMA SX/MX, but also in MXoN (Motocross of Nations) by finishing runner-up in the Open class at Ironman Raceway in the US.  At the event where the world’s best riders gather, Shimoda entered the category with the CRF450RWE in his 450 race debut representing Japan.

In Race 2 (MX2 + Open), he finished 2nd and in Race 3 (MXGP + Open) finished 6th, getting the holeshot ahead of the 450 class riders.  Overall, he individually finished 2nd in the class, following his fellow Honda HRC rider Hunter Lawrence and helped Team Japan to achieve 11th place with his teammates. 

His performances this year demonstrated his inner strength and a will to never give up, which was rewarded with a championship crown and a new contract with Honda HRC Progressive for 2026.

“It means a lot to me, I think HRC is one of the the most advanced teams in the industry, to be part of that is really amazing.  I mean, where I grew up we have Suzuka circuit where Honda is all over it, HRC is right by my house, there’s a lot to it and it means a lot.

This year I rode with a hand injury, I pushed through, I rode with illness at St. Louis, SMX, I rode through, so I think a lot of that is going to help mentally.  And of course, with the third year with the team, I’m looking forward to it.”