Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Seth Hammaker stretched his podium streak at RingCentral Coliseum as he raced to his second-straight podium finish in third. Teammate Jo Shimoda earned the main event holeshot, eventually coming to the finish line in seventh after going down early.
The track at the second round was a bit different from Anaheim as the dirt was much softer than the riders experienced at the opening round. Quick to adapt, Hammaker qualified fourth overall and finished third in his heat race. The gate dropped for the main event, and Hammaker came around the first lap in fourth. He was able to get by for third on the next lap, eventually taking over second place when his teammate went down. Hammaker held on to second for over half the race before a small mistake pushed him back to third, where he finished the night.
“Now that I’ve been on the podium twice this year, I’m not satisfied with second or third,” said Hammaker. “I want that win, and we’ll be working hard for it. Last week I was able to minimize the mistakes, but I just had a few moments on Saturday that cost me some time. I’m really looking forward to going to San Diego. It has always looked like a cool stadium with a tighter, technical track.”
Shimoda came to Oakland on a mission to showcase his speed up front. He qualified sixth and finished just ahead of his teammate in second during their heat race. A completely different scenario played out during the start of the main event as Shimoda came around the first turn out front to claim the holeshot — giving Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki both holeshots so far this season. Shimoda rode strong, but a mistake in the whoops saw him go down, though he was able to remount inside the top 10. He used the entire race to make it back up to seventh.
“There were a lot of positives that we had in Oakland, but I wasn’t able to get the result I know we are capable of,” said Shimoda. “It’s frustrating, but at least I know there are things that can be adjusted. The start was awesome and I felt good. I just made a mistake that cost me a good result. We know what we can work on this week and we’ll be ready for San Diego.”
