Image: Align Media.

Team manager of Honda HRC Progressive Lars Lindstrom has indicated that injured SMX champions Jett Lawrence and Jo Shimoda could return to competition before the end of the 2026 Monster Energy Supercross Championship.

Both riders sustained injuries during the pre-season, with Lawrence fracturing the talus and navicular bones in his foot, and Shimoda sustaining two fractured and displaced vertebrae in his upper-back and lower-neck region.

While those injuries represented major setbacks to their Monster Energy Supercross campaigns, Lawrence and Shimoda have made solid progress in rehabilitation to date. According to Lindstrom, there is a possibility that the pair will be able to line up before the current season’s out.

“I’m pretty confident that we’ll see both of them back in Supercross at some point,” he explained at Anaheim 2. “Jett’s recovery is going incredible. That bone that he broke in his foot – the talus bone – is really important as far as being your main platform that the tibia and fibula touch.

“So for that to be really healed is important, and he’s been doing everything possible as far as all of the tools and tricks that we have with Dr. G, so it’s been speeding up the recovery process quite a bit, just like his knee. He has been in there every day to try to get better.

“Jo has been doing the same thing. Luckily, Jo’s surgery was really well done, we’re really happy with that, and he feels so good. I won’t say that he’ll be back for the first east coast [round] – we still don’t have clear answers from his doctors on when his return will be – but he’ll have some scans this week, and we should know more pretty soon.”

For Lawrence, the initial estimate was ‘at least three months’ on the sidelines, effectively ruling him out until April. St. Louis is scheduled for April 4, with five rounds to follow before the Pro Motocross season begins on May 30 in Pala, California.

The 250SX East opener takes place at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium on February 21, commencing a three-week run of eastern division races before a single weekend off. The first 250SX East/West Showdown is scheduled for late March in Birmingham, should Shimoda return to racing after the break.