It has been around six month since Jo Shimoda crashed heavily at the Supercross test track and had to be helicoptered to the hospital with a broken neck. The scar is still there as is the memory but did the Japanese star ever think about quitting?
Shimoda said: “Of course. Me and my family talked quite a bit actually. Even now, my neck doesn’t feel the same anymore. There’s some restriction. Every time I wake up in the morning, it’s hurting. As a racer, you always have some kind of risk and it’s not like if I move around, it’ll make it worse either. Same risk as everyone’s having.”
Has he any issues now in life or racing? “It doesn’t really affect my riding,” Shimoda insisted, but everything isn’t perfect yet. “When I try to turn around, I used to flex a lot easier. My body’s not used to it (outdoors). After racing, even if you don’t get hurt, I still feel very sore around my neck. “
It is testament to Shimoda that he just gets on with things and never used that injury as an excuse and is still a front runner, but this was a scary injury and underlines how mentally strong elite dirt bike riders are to overcome the PTSD of of big crashes and scary injuries.
Watch the full interview below:
