While Jett and Hunter Lawrence both finished on the podium in the opening round of the AMA Nationals, HRC were also showing some pretty good speed in the 250 class with Jo Shimoda turning in an impressive 2-2 ride for second overall, and Chance Hymas showed impressive speed all day and finished fourth overall.

Qualification

In 250 timed qualifying, Hymas set the pace with the fastest lap time, topping the charts by 1.6 seconds over the next rider. Teammate Shimoda also rode well despite experiencing a tip-over in the first session, with another rider landing on his bike, preventing him from continuing the session. Shimoda rebounded in session 2 to qualify ninth overall.

Moto One

Hymas grabbed the 250 moto 1 holeshot board his CRF250RWE and, after briefly losing the lead, ran at the front until a lap-6 tip-over cost him a couple spots. Shimoda sat in fourth after lap 1 and then lost a position, but he came on strong in the second half of the race to notch a solid second-place result, one ahead of Hymas.

Moto Two

Moto 2 saw the Japanese racer once again complete lap 1 in fourth place and mount a charge midway through, for a second-place result and second overall. Hymas suffered a terrible start but rode well and advanced steadily from 14th on lap 1 to sixth at the finish, for fourth on the day.

Jo Shimoda

“It was a good day with P2 overall. I think I needed this, after a rough Supercross season. It’s really nice to start my season in a positive direction. It gives me confidence going into next weekend. We still have a lot of work to do, but we’ll try to make steady progress.”

Chance Hymas

“Round 1 here at Pala was really good for me. Qualifying fastest was definitely the best way to start off the day—my confidence was really high. After that, I holeshot the first moto but had a little mistake and ended up third. In the second moto I had a bad start, but I rode really good and made my way back up to sixth for fourth overall. Everything was good; I just need to fine-tune the bike a little bit, and I’m looking forward to Hangtown.”