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theGRIT
Joe Shimoda couldn’t have asked for a much better week of racing to cap off an unbelievably impressive 2016 season. He locked in four moto victories at the Ranch and only finished off the podium once; the young Japanese rider had a 7th place finish in the second Supermini 1 moto which was partially caused by both soupy conditions and a poor start. He managed to grab a 2nd in the first moto behind Lance Kobusch, as he wasn’t quite on pace with the Kawasaki rider although their sprint speed wasn’t that much different. The last moto was the only one in which the Suzuka native set the fastest lap time of the race, doing so right after he passed for the lead position and clinching 2nd overall in the process.
In the Supermini 2 class, Shimoda didn’t put a boot wrong the entire time as he
put together a perfect sweep of first place finishes. He found himself in a battle with Seth Hammaker in the first moto in which they swapped positions halfway through the race, but Shimoda was barely able to pull away after the pass was made and he withstood pressure from the Kawasaki up until the checkered flag. The second moto was fairly routine for the KTM rider, his reaction times were on point out of the gate and he never looked back. Shimoda managed the gap back to Kobusch and rode with the composure of a veteran to hold off a late charge from the Team Green kid. In the final moto, he was able to jump past the champion of the Supermin 1 class, Hammaker, on the entrance to the sand sweeper. Shimoda carried a little bit more speed into the Kawasaki jump and landed one roller further than the number 51. At that point, he laid down a robotic pace at the front of the field and rode on to take the moto victory and his first ever Loretta Lynn’s National Title. Shimoda is going to be a force to be reckoned with next year at the Ranch if he continues to ride with the confidence he showed in 2016.
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