Jo Shimoda finished second in both motos of Round 2 of the 2025 SuperMotocross World Championship in the 250 division to score the overall victory and take the points lead heading into the season finale. Shimoda is the only rider fully in control of his fate entering the season finale next week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In St. Louis, Shimoda fought through illness to score the runner-up finish to Haiden Deegan in Moto 1. He was second to Tom Vialle in Moto 2, but with each of those riders experiencing problems in one of the two races, Shimoda’s results were enough to keep Seth Hammaker at bay for the overall win.
“All I can say is that we have been working so hard all year,” Shimoda told Peacock’s Jason Thomas. “I just want to finish good and I don’t want to give anything away. I think that was the toughest moto I ever felt. Today we had just enough. Any more laps, I mean I got really sketchy on the last lap. ... I’m excited about next week. I’m done with [the interview].”
An exhausted Shimoda walked off the podium with a 10-point advantage over Deegan. Points will be tripled next week to create a nine-point difference between first and second place in Vegas.
Shimoda could score the 250 Championship with a second-place finish, even if Deegan is victorious.
Hammaker finished second overall, with third-place finishes in both motos.
“I set myself up going into the third and final SMX final playoff race in Las Vegas next weekend,” Hammaker said. “I’m super-pumped about that. Just two solid Main Events tonight. Nothing spectacular, but put myself in good positions, didn’t panic, and rode what the track gave me.”
Nate Thrasher rounded out the podium with results of sixth in Moto 1 and fourth in Moto 2.
With a 4-6, Ty Masterpool finished fourth overall with Tom Vialle finishing fifth on the strength of his Moto 2 victory and 10th-place finish in Moto 1.
Bad Blood
But the biggest story of the race was an incident between Deegan and Levi Kitchen on Lap 1.
The field has sat quietly for most of the season as Deegan’s confident responses to the media contained subtle, and often not-so-subtle, dispersions toward the competition. Deegan rode aggressively at times as he made his way through the field and pushed first one, then another rider wide.
Hot blood boiled over in the first lap of the second moto as Kitchen pushed Deegan wide in a turn and sent both bikes to the ground.
Deegan bent his front brake lever and fell to 22nd (last), but eventually found a way to make his brake lever work. Deegan climbed from 22nd into the top 15, but after passing Lux Turner for 14th, he was too far behind Garrett Marchbanks to claim another position. Deegan was credited with sixth-place overall with his Moto 1 win and 14th-place result in Moto 2. Deegan’s pass on Turner was crucial. Without it, he would have scored 16 points in the Olympic-style scoring, which would have placed him in a four-way tie and dropped him to ninth via the tiebreaker.
Since this was his first incident of 2025, Kitchen was issued a written warning for rough riding.
- Vialle earned the holeshot.
- Deegan and Kitchen crash hard on Lap 1.
- Deegan completes Lap 1 in 20th, but rapidly fell to 22nd.
- Vialle led Shimoda by 2.3 seconds on Lap 5.
- Deegan’s bike was damaged in the crash, and he climbed to only 20th in the opening laps.
- Deegan found a way to overcome the damage and moved to 16th on Lap 8 (halfway).
- On Lap 12, Deegan moved into 14th around Lux Turner.
- Vialle continued to lead on Lap 17.
- The gap between Shimoda and Hammaker grew to four seconds on Lap 17.
- Vialle beat Shimoda to the line by 3.768 seconds.
In Race Notes
Vialle earned the holeshot over Jo Shimoda.
Early on Lap 1, Kitchen leaned hard into Deegan in a turn and took them both down. Deegan’s bike was damaged, and he was well outside the top 20 after the incident.
Kitchen remounted and climbed to 12th on Lap 6.
Near the halfway mark, Vialle led Shimoda by 2.6 seconds with Seth Hammaker third.
Thrasher got aggressive with Hammaker, but could not improve from fourth.
Jordon Smith rounded out the top five on Lap 7.
Deegan was riding angrily and moved into 15th on Lap 8. Announcers said he would control his fate in the finale if he moved as far forward as 13th (coupled with his Moto 1 win), but the math was not as simple as that with Daxton Bennick, Jordon Smith, and Max Anstie running well.
Hammaker caught Shimoda, and they battled on Lap 15. With the pass for position, Hammaker would score the overall victory on the tiebreaker.
Shimoda fought off the effects of his illness and dug deep to stretch his advantage to three seconds.
Vialle won over Shimoda. Hammaker finished third for the second consecutive moto.
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