Photos by: Hoppenworld
When you think of riders who have grinded out a living in Monster Energy Supercross through sheer perseverance, GEICO / Honda’s Jimmy Decotis is one of the first riders that comes to mind. The pride of Peabody, Massachusetts turned pro back in 2010 as a privateer and worked his way up to getting a shot with the GEICO / Honda team in 2011. At that point in his career, Jimmy was known mostly as the 125 two-stroke video guy, but the very likable kid with a thick Massachusetts accent immediately proved that, with the right equipment, he could run with anyone. Unfortunately, after finishing as high as fifth in a main event, Jimmy destroyed his elbow in Seattle and tapped out of the series.
Over the next few years, it was two steps forwards and three steps back for Decotis, but in 2014 and ’15 he showed he wasn’t ready to give up when he ran inside the top ten and even scored a top five in a main event on a privateer Honda. In 2016, GEICO / Honda put Jimmy back under their tent and he repaid the team by showing improvement in every aspect of his game, putting the bike as high as fourth in a main event and finishing the series with a career high 111 points and seventh in the championship. Not the results a factory team like GEICO celebrates, but Jimmy is the type of guy you cannot help but want to see succeed and the improvements were enough to score him another season under the tent.
At the opening round of 2017 Monster Energy Supercross in Anaheim, Jimmy qualified seventh fastest and ended up having to use a win in the LCQ to make the main. With a horrible gate pick and a back of the pack start in the main, Jimmy was left scratching and clawing his way back to a ninth in the main event. Obviously wanting more in San Diego, Jimmy once again qualified seventh, but a fourth in his heat race put him in a much better position for the main. In the main, Jimmy ripped a huge holeshot and was the only rider able to triple into the first rhythm section—which gave him a two-second gap. He was off to the races. To everyone’s surprise, the #57 would go on to lead the first ten laps before the pressure, a stomach cramp and mistakes pushed him back to a sixth place finish.
While the final result was not what he wanted, when we caught up to Jimmy walking to his car in San Diego, we were taken aback at just how angry he was with himself. I mistakenly thought that leading ten laps would have left Jimmy with more positives than negatives, but he was straight up pissed off.
Jimmy, awesome ride tonight. You grabbed the holeshot, ran away from everyone and led the first ten laps. Did that surprise you at all?
No, I’ve been riding good during the week. I ride with A.P. [Aaron Plessinger]. I’ve been just a tick off of Plessinger, and he’s been one of the fastest guys and can win too. He’s had some bad luck to go 2-3 in the first two mains; I think he could have won both. But I’ve been good during the week and I know my speed and fitness is there, I just cramped up really, really bad—like a little runner’s cramp in my stomach. That really hindered me at the end there. I also got into my head and got a little tight. I don’t know, for me I think a lot of people will look down on me and say I faded, but whatever. I led ten laps and had one of the best laps of the race. That’s a big positive. I wanted to podium that race and I felt I could have, but I think I have to work on my mental game a little bit. I really don’t think that much of it is physical. I think it’s mental and just being comfortable up there and having the confidence to know, “Hey, I can run with these guys and I can win races.” I truly believe I can now.
You’ve been at this a long time. It had to just feel good to be up there leading the race for that long. Yes, in the end, you fell back to sixth, but you have one of, if not the, biggest fan bases in the 250 class and Twitter was blowing up when you were leading. I don’t think any of them are looking down at you for the finish. I think most were just pumped to see Jimmy D. leading and hauling.
It did, it felt good. I felt smooth. I felt calm. I was clicking the laps off, hitting my marks, and I think in years past, I wasn’t able to do that. I think I have what it takes. I’ll be okay. It’s going to be a tough week. It’s going to be a tough Sunday. It’s going to be tough, but I’ll persevere. I’ll go and I’ll do that again, and next time I’ll lead for 15 laps. We’ll get better and better every time. That’s all I can ask.
I didn’t expect you to be this bummed, but you look and sound really mad at yourself.
Oh, I’m beyond bummed ’cause I feel I had winning speed. I felt like, until lap ten, I was the best guy on the track. When you ride that good, lead ten laps and finish sixth, it’s tough.
You have to leave here with some positives. I mean you led ten laps which is something you’ve never done, and you’ve been at this a while.
Yeah, to do that after how many years I’ve been doing it—I don’t know, it’s tough.
I mean you were almost out of the sport and here you are on a GEICO / Honda leading laps. That’s gotta feel a little good.
Ah man, yeah, but it’s so bittersweet. I was just so bummed after that main event. Everybody has been telling me good job and that they’ve seen what I can do. I want to podium. I want to win races so bad. I had it tonight, and I will never forget this race. That’s for sure.
It sounds like it was mental. That’s something you can overcome. It seemed like once Martin [Davalos] got you, it was a snowball effect from there.
Yeah, I thought it was. I made mistakes and I tightened up. A lot of it was that I got a cramp and I couldn’t perform on the bike, but it was mental. I stopped hitting my marks, got tight, struggled in the whoops, and yeah, it was mental. I’ve never led that many laps in a race. I led ten of them.
Yeah, and on one of the toughest tracks we’ve seen in a while. What did you think of this track tonight?
I think I benefited from the track. Last week was so easy. Everyone was doing the same things. But I’m bummed, really. I feel like as bummed as I am, I’ve really won a mental battle I’ve been working on the last couple of years. That’s holeshot, execute and run laps. I think more people will be worried about me now, at least once I get this 15-minute moto down.
It looked like the left side was getting faster through the whoops towards the end and that was one of the spots they were catching you. Did you ever think of moving over a little?
Yeah, it was faster I think. I started going to the right, but I don’t know. I was trying to change, but like I said, I lost the mental side. I got flustered, didn’t keep my eyes open and look at better lines. It was tough. I’m going to go back, look at the tape, watch the race and I’m gonna move forward. I’m going to remember the mindset I had leaving ’cause it felt like home. It felt like I could do this every weekend.
Alright, well, thanks for taking the time to talk to me.
No problem.
