“Everyone progresses differently,” says team founder and co-owner Rick “Ziggy” Zielfelder, stating one of his long-held ideals while standing on the Budds Creek fence line watching the new kids. It’s Ziggy’s team that took the big step of integrating amateurs into a pro team a generation ago, reaping the benefits of race wins and titles from Trey Canard, Justin Barcia, Eli Tomac, and more. Barcia and Tomac made their professional debuts at the opening round of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross at Glen Helen (Barcia ’09) and Hangtown (Tomac ’10) while Canard started after his final year at Loretta’s (Millville ’07). So much of the timing depends on how the rider is progressing—is he already going so fast that he needs to learn from the pros, or does he need more work before getting thrown in the deep end?

For Shimoda, it was time. Originally from Japan, Jo and his family had been splitting time in the U.S. for years, and when he won a Supermini title at Loretta’s in 2016, his talent was obvious. Ziggy’s Factory Connection (GEICO Honda) team snapped him up, and Jo began adjusting to American life, including learning English. His parents still split their time, although the team says Japan time is more of a vacation schedule, with the U.S. resembling more of a full-time home.

Shimoda is a calculated rider, not the typical flash-and-dash amateur who couples incredible lap times with inconsistency.

“I’ve watched Shimoda at all the amateur races this year, and he’s so solid,” DMXS Radio’s Kevin Kelly said while announcing at Loretta’s. “He just doesn’t make many mistakes.”

His solid riding convinced the team he was ready for Unadilla. Before that, though, Shimoda actually did make mistakes at Loretta’s, jacking up his starts early in the week. He came back to beat everyone, including his teammates Lawrence and Mumford, straight-up in a moto, but then a crash led to a shoulder injury. After that, he was off to Unadilla, where he crashed again and re-aggravated the shoulder. He returned for Budds Creek and did much better, logging 13-12 scores for 13th overall. That’s exactly the type of solid riding expected from Jo.

The plans changed quite quickly for everyone else.

Jettson

There was a conundrum with Jett Lawrence, who started progressing quite suddenly this summer, making it hard to figure out his next step.

In 2017, Jett’s older brother Hunter was a Suzuki prospect in Europe, and agent Lucas Mirtl started shopping him to U.S. teams. Mirtl—like the Lawrences, also from Australia—in typically brash agent-speak, likes to claim he watches more racing than anyone in the industry. He studies lap times from Australia, Europe, the U.S., and Canada, and noticed Hunter showing speed before he was actually showing results. By RedBud 2017, Mirtl was drumming up interest in Hunter, and also mentioning Jett, who had won a 65cc title Down Under and showed serious natural talent. Mirtl maintains that the Lawrence brothers were not a package deal—the family, despite the difficulty, was even willing to let Hunter move to the U.S. while Jett stayed in Europe—but the GEICO team signed them both. By the family’s wishes, though, they would spend an additional year in Europe gaining experience. (They lived in Germany and trained with Ken Roczen’s dad.)

Jett and Hunter didn’t start the 2018 season on fire, but both progressed by the end of the year, Jett netting a 1-1 in the EMX race at the notoriously rough Lommel circuit as a 14-year-old. That really opened some eyes in Europe. Jett enjoys sand and really wanted to make his U.S. pro debut at Southwick or RedBud, but he had to wait until his 16th birthday—by chance came, four days after Loretta’s.

Jett doesn’t care. All he wants to do is get in a good lap time so he can impress his dad and get permission to play Fortnite.”

LUCAS MIRTL

LUCAS MIRTL

Jett went to Florida and started logging 30-minute motos with his older brother and teammate RJ Hampshire. The 15-year-old boy was learning from some of the men in the class, but his innocence remains intact.

“Jett doesn’t understand pressure,” Majkrzak says.

“Jett doesn’t care,” Mirtl adds. “All he wants to do is get in a good lap time so he can impress his dad and get permission to play Fortnite.”

Indeed, Jett’s sense of humor has surprised people nearly as much as his silky-smooth, Windham-like riding style. He refers to nearly everyone by nickname, calling Shimoda “Sushi” and saying he passed “Chicken Little” (Tyson Johnson) for the lead in a Loretta’s moto. He sends shout-outs to his “little mechanic” (Christien Ducharm). Oh, and he and Hunter are constant rivals.

“I’m the mailman’s son,” offers Jett. “That’s what they say, because I’m just that much better-looking than my brother.”

When I text Hunter after Budds Creek to ask how his race went, his first response is, “I beat Jett, all day I had him covered, qualifying was sick. End of story.”

These two are going to be fun.

Math Problems

Lawrence’s quick development has put the team in a bind. If he really crushes it at the final three pro races, he could go over the 40-point mark and lose his amateur status. Honda would like to see him remain eligible for the Monster Energy Cup SX Futures amateur race. Supercross in general is the real question. Jett has not ridden it yet, and Hunter’s attempts to debut this year led to a shoulder injury that cost him the whole stadium season. Jett’s riding style is much different from his brother’s, though. Still, there’s no way to be sure until he tries it. All this chatter leads to confusion when Jett, running 15th in Budds Creek’s first moto, sees his mechanic give him a fist-pump. Majrzak explained that Jett thought the mechanic was “giving him the hook,” so Jett pulled off the track, thinking the team wanted him to avoid scoring points.

Majkrzak had to actually show the 40-point rule to Jett, explaining again that as long as you don’t enter another race after collecting 40 points, you retain amateur status. Hey, that just-turned-16 innocence is going to have its drawbacks, right? But maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe the kid is good enough to be pro forever, starting right now. In the second Budds moto, though, Jett is running fourth for some time, then pulls off the track again—not to shave points but because the heat and humidity are simply too much, and the kid is starting to feel fried. There’s still a lot to learn.

Which brings us to Mumford. Back in the Canard days, the team could wait until the 250F classes to make an offer. As other teams got more aggressive, the squad had to dig into the minicycle ranks, which led to signing Mumford and building the world’s trickest CRF150R minicycles to race the Supermini class. Mumford since grew up, capturing the 250 B Limited Championship at Loretta’s last year, but kept getting taller, and you can describe his current build as quite wiry. After finishes of fifth and second in the two Loretta’s Pro Sport classes, he expected to go race a few pro races in Canada to gain experience, but since Lawrence was heading to Unadilla, the team told Mumford to come to New York with him.

Mumford explains that he had only been focused on 20-minute Loretta’s motos and had literally never ridden a 30-minute moto before. On the drive from Tennessee to New York, he hit up North Carolina-based trainer Seth Rarick, found a local track, and logged a 30 on Wednesday. He did well at Unadilla, scoring points in both motos, but at Budds, the heat is too much. The team talks about Mumford needing time to gain physical maturity and strength, again going back to Ziggy’s principle that all riders develop differently.

It just so happened that the development paths of these three young men converged in the same pro truck on the same day. And it really was crowded.