250 East and West

cheesehead420 wrote:

Imo Davies has a lot to prove this year. last year he was incredible but he’s been hurt multiple times since then. I really hope he...

Imo Davies has a lot to prove this year. last year he was incredible but he’s been hurt multiple times since then. I really hope he can catch a couple breaks here and there and stay healthy. I like seeing guys ride to their potential and he’s got a lot of it. 

-MAVERICK- wrote:

I disagree. Considering he was supposed to ride SMX Next this year, I think he did more than fine. They moved him up because he progressed that...

I disagree. 

Considering he was supposed to ride SMX Next this year, I think he did more than fine. They moved him up because he progressed that much. He finished 3rd in the 250 SX West series, got four podiums including two wins. 

Sure, injuries did set him back for outdoors, but he finished 7th at Budds Creek going 1-17. 

He'll be fine. 

yak651 wrote:

Why would shimoda be in a tougher spot than Davies or Deegan? He wasn’t much off their pace racing with a broken hand 

Spudinki45 wrote:

I disagree. He was very far off. He didn’t get a single podium the rest of the year. Many races he was well over 20-30 seconds...

I disagree. He was very far off. He didn’t get a single podium the rest of the year. Many races he was well over 20-30 seconds behind (Seattle/Denver).

That said, Shimoda’s issue that holds him back from beating Davies/Deegan is whoop speed and risk taking.

Watch back any race from last year or 2024. And you will notice that Shimoda really struggles to blitz whoops and almost never goes for the “triple” option when available. He usually opts for a safer double double line which ends up costing him about 5-10 seconds a race or about 0.3-0.5 seconds per lap.

A perfect example can be seen at St Louis SMX 2025 where Shimoda lost effectively all the time to Deegan in moto 1 because he was doubling in instead of tripling onto the table.

In fact I ran the numbers and he was equal or faster than Deegan on average on the rest of the track but slower only in that rhythm lane. In fact,
Shimoda posted a top-4 time in every other track segment, but he was only the 18th fastest through that rhythm lane.

I’m hoping for Jo’s sake it was a bike comfort issue, because he has the ability. He just needs to take risks and starting tripling because otherwise it will cost him from realizing his true potential in SX.

Unfortunately, Jo seems to be afraid to do these jumps. If you recall, at Ironman MXON Hunter brought up how Jo mentioned in the truck he was scared to jump the double off the finish line even though he was on the 450. In fact, he was really the only top rider to not do the “Deegan double” on 450/, And during interviews in the past he has mentioned how he doesn’t lie to jump big jumps but rather avoid them when necessary.

Spudinki45 wrote:

I disagree. He was very far off. He didn’t get a single podium the rest of the year. Many races he was well over 20-30 seconds...

I disagree. He was very far off. He didn’t get a single podium the rest of the year. Many races he was well over 20-30 seconds behind (Seattle/Denver).

That said, Shimoda’s issue that holds him back from beating Davies/Deegan is whoop speed and risk taking.

Watch back any race from last year or 2024. And you will notice that Shimoda really struggles to blitz whoops and almost never goes for the “triple” option when available. He usually opts for a safer double double line which ends up costing him about 5-10 seconds a race or about 0.3-0.5 seconds per lap.

A perfect example can be seen at St Louis SMX 2025 where Shimoda lost effectively all the time to Deegan in moto 1 because he was doubling in instead of tripling onto the table.

In fact I ran the numbers and he was equal or faster than Deegan on average on the rest of the track but slower only in that rhythm lane. In fact,
Shimoda posted a top-4 time in every other track segment, but he was only the 18th fastest through that rhythm lane.

I’m hoping for Jo’s sake it was a bike comfort issue, because he has the ability. He just needs to take risks and starting tripling because otherwise it will cost him from realizing his true potential in SX.

Unfortunately, Jo seems to be afraid to do these jumps. If you recall, at Ironman MXON Hunter brought up how Jo mentioned in the truck he was scared to jump the double off the finish line even though he was on the 450. In fact, he was really the only top rider to not do the “Deegan double” on 450/, And during interviews in the past he has mentioned how he doesn’t lie to jump big jumps but rather avoid them when necessary.

Jabe wrote:

I am not sure why the downvotes. It seems like a fair assessment. I think people see this as a negative comment or punching down. I...

I am not sure why the downvotes. It seems like a fair assessment. I think people see this as a negative comment or punching down. I see it as the opposite. Clearly stating what needs to be improved and even highlighting that he almost made up for the disadvantage. Seems like a quite mature and risk averse approach of Jo to minimise the probability for injury. 

I think we all want to see him succeed because he has been quite close a fair amount of times.ä and his determination at the last round of smx speaks volumes.

Maybe he can chip away on that bit by bit. Idk 

But there is still a piece of the puzzle missing for him.

jaun wrote:

Who ends up on what coast?

If Deegan and Anstie are on the same coast Anstie will absolutely pump Deegan.

Kenny Banyan wrote:

What do you mean “pump Deegan”? 

jaun wrote:

Like, beat him real bad, by at least 9 seconds and have a fastest lap almost a second faster.