MOTOCROSS ACTION MID-WEEK REPORT

#WHIPITWEDNESDAY

Rider: Eli Tomac
Bike: 2023 factroy Yamaha YZ450F
Location: Seattle, Washington, Supercross
Photographer: Trevor Nelson

TWO-STROKE SPOTLIGHT: DANIEL JOHNSON’S 1999 SUZUKI RM250 

WOULD YOU PAY OVER $9000 FOR THESE HONDA Z50s? WELL SOMEONE DID

MXA INTERVIEW: JULIEN BEAUMER THE NEW KTM RIDER

Julien Beaumer may not be a name you quickly recognize, but I suspect you will in the near future. The Lake Havasu city Arizona native has been getting lots of attention since setting the fastest qualifying times at the Anaheim 2 Supercross Futures race. While the race didn’t go quite as planned (overjumping the big triple caused a bike issue), Beaumer proved he had the pace. His speed cemented; he was later signed with KTM’s amateur Orange Brigade squad. Beaumer’s first race on Orange brought him a fourth overall at the Arlington Supercross Futures. Guided by former pro Davi Millsaps, Beaumer is destined for great things, now as am amateur, eventually as a pro. This weekend, Beaumer will be racing the Glendale Arizona Supercross Futures in front of his fans.

BY JIM KIMBALL

JULIAN, I HAD NOT HEARD A LOT ABOUT YOU UNTIL YOU WERE AT THE ANAHEIM 2 FUTURES RACE. YOU WERE THE FASTEST GUY IN PRACTICE. I was happy with where I was at but was struggling a little bit. Then I started training with Davi Millsaps, and that really changed everything. I grew an incredible amount in the four weeks we had leading up to Anaheim and I came in feeling ready. I was happy with where I was on the bike, and we had a good set-up at the time. I knew my speed was going to be there, but I was not sure how the nerves were going to be. It is definitely a different feeling when you are on a big stage like that under the lights.

I BET! In a stadium of that magnitude, it’s much different than my practice track. But, when I went in and practiced, it felt like it came almost naturally and that was probably the best I felt riding almost ever on the bike.  I was happy with where I was fitness-wise. Obviously, I was not expecting to go out to top qualifying. I had ridden with Haiden Deegan a little bit and to be honest, he was smoking me. I knew he was going to be fast, and I was not expecting Daxton (Bennick) to ride like that, and I was honestly quite surprised when I was fastest for sure.

CAN YOU CLARIFY SOMETHING? I KNEW YOU WERE RIDING SOME WITH HAIDEN DEEGAN, BUT WERE YOU ON A STAR RACING-SUPPORTED YAMAHA AT ANAHEIM? No, I was riding on my own bike. Jamie Ellis at Twisted Development built the engine, and I was on Enzo suspension. I was on my own bike there. But before that, I did go and ride the Star Racing bike with Haiden and all of them at the Goat Farm.

SO, THE RIDING WITH HAIDEN WAS SOMEWHAT OF A TRY-OUT FOR STAR YAMAHA? Yes, something like that.

YOU HAD A LOT GOING ON WITH PRACTICING AT STAR YAMAHA, AND THE ANAHEIM FUTURES. I tested with Star right after Mini O’s in December. I rode with them for a little bit, but nothing really happened so I went to Anaheim on my own bike. After Anaheim, I talked to Star a little bit more, but it was just going to be the same deal that Daxton was on. Somewhat like a trial. I would ride their bike and train with them, but I was not necessarily under contract.

Julien raced his Twisted YZ250F at the Anaheim 2 Supercross Futures race where has was the fastest in timed qualifying. 

YOU HAVE TO PERFORM REALLY WELL TO STAY AT STAR RACING. Yes, for sure.

THINGS CAN BE VERY CUT-THROAT FOR SOMEONE IN YOUR POSITION. They are cool over there, but I think they just want to win. Their goal is to win. Supercross is most where the money is at for big teams like that. I feel like if they feel you could not perform in Supercross, that it would be not good. They had some rookies that they later dropped who were probably almost rushed into it (turning pro).

ULTIMATELY, YOU SIGNED WITH THE ORANGE BRIGADE TEAM, HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT? The KTM deal came about right after Anaheim. Davi talked to me about it, and he thought we should try the bike.  Neither of us was sure how I was going to like the bike coming off the aluminum-framed Yamaha and getting on the softer and flexier frame of the KTM.

HOW WAS IT? The KTM was a little bit thinner, a little bit smaller and Davi said, “You might like it. You are not that big.” We had already talked about that a little bit about how I look small on the Yamaha. He said, “You might like this bike better. You might be able to move more freely underneath you and it might fit a little better.” I said “Yeah, let’s go ride the bike. We will see how we like it and go from there.” I had a really good first day. My speed was there right away. I felt comfortable and everyone over there was helpful with getting comfortable and getting me set up.  After just being with the whole team for the first couple of days, I told Davi, “This is where I want to be.”  Everyone was helpful, and everyone was really motivated, and they were there all the days I was riding. They were there watching and checking in on me.  Seeing how I liked the bike, changing some stuff and I told Davi when I left the track, “I want to do this.”  We made the decision after that.

HOW LONG IS YOUR CONTRACT FOR? I am not too sure if I can say 100%, but it is a long-term deal.

I DON’T KNOW YOUR SPECIFIC DEAL, BUT WITH BEING IN THE KTM AMATEUR PROGRAM, IT LIKELY CREATES OPPORTUNITIES AT KTM, GASGAS AND HUSQVARNA. The plan right now is obviously I want to go pro in the next couple of years.  We will see how I feel at the end of this year and going into the off-season, getting back on Supercross. After the first couple of weeks, we will see where my speed is at and see where my fitness is at and really decide whether I will stay amateur another year or move up.

HOW DID THE DAYTONA AMATEUR RACE GO? It was good. I was leading the Open Pro class by ten seconds or something like that and I just made a mistake in the whoops, and I came back down.  I got bumped in the air and I came back down and broke my shifter. I was stuck in fourth gear for the rest of the race.  I pulled into the pits to try to fix it, but we couldn’t.  I think I was in sixth or seventh at the time, and I came back to third while in fourth gear but other than that, it was good. I took the win in the 250 A class.

THEN DIDN’T YOU RACE THE ARLINGTON SUPERCROSS FUTURES? Yes, I got fourth in my first race on the KTM.

THAT WAS YOUR FIRST RIDE ON KTM, WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ON IT? I was pretty happy with it. I had three full days on the bike in California and I was feeling pretty good.  We could wait it out and not do it and wait until Glendale and be a little more prepared with more time on the bike or we could come into Arlington and use  it as a learning experience and ride the bike, in race conditions on a real Supercross track, and really figure out what we need to change and what needs to be different with the suspension, gearing, if we need to change gearing and all that stuff on a race scenario and I told them that well, I feel good enough and let’s go and race and this will be more of a learning race for me and go from there.

LET’S HEAR MORE ABOUT DAVI HELPING YOU. I saw Davi at a track here in California while he was training Dean Wilson, and there was a triple on-off quad in this rhythm section. Chase Sexton showed up and he was the only one doing it, and Davi came up to me and told me, “You can do it.”  He told me later that he was trying to see if you could handle someone coming telling me that “you can do it.” I took his word on it and I jumped it. Then I texted him a week or two later and asked him if he would be interested in working together. He was all for it.

We met again, and we had a little conversation with my parents. I started working with him that next week and it has been awesome. My fitness has improved incredibly. The first day I was with him, I could only do ten laps and now we are to a point where I am doing fifteen-minute main events every day. I am doing motos now and I can do them consistently.  I don’t know the right words to say it.  He is tough on me, but he makes it fun. He changes it up every day. It is not like we are doing the same thing all the time. Working with Dean Wilson is fun. Dean is a character. He is a funny guy and makes jokes all day. We try to make it fun, and that has been definitely a big help for me.

IS IT IMPORTANT FOR SOMEBODY IN YOUR POSITION TO HAVE SOMEONE LIKE DAVI? Yes, for sure.  Davi has been through it all. I think he has 15 years in the Pro class and an incredible amateur career as well.  He has been through both the amateurs and the pros fully, and he was a champion in Supercross. He has the experience and he knows the “dos and don’ts”, and the “ins and outs” of the sport. He has a lot of connections, and he knows his stuff, so when he tells me that I need to do this, I believe in his word. I trust him a lot.  Every time he tells me I can make a jump, or this jump is doable, 99% of the time, it is doable, and we end up doing it. That has been awesome and having Dean around to is great, he has been through it all.  Supercross champion, outdoor champion.  He has been through the ins and outs of the sport as well and having two different guys, both helping me. When Davi is not there, Dean is most of the time there. If I am struggling with something, Dean will talk to me about it, and I can make some changes – has been a really big help.

WHAT DOES THE REST OF YOUR YEAR LOOK LIKE FROM A RACE SCHEDULE STANDPOINT? For right now, I am getting ready for Glendale Futures, and Salt Lake City Futures. Then after that, I will get back on outdoors and focus on Loretta’s regionals and then training for Loretta’s.

YOU TOUCHED ON THIS, BUT HOW LONG BEFORE YOU TURN PRO? WILL DAVI AND KTM BE INVOLVED IN THAT?  Yes, for sure. Probably after Loretta’s later this summer, and after I get back on a Supercross track, Davi and I will probably sit down and talk about it. We will see what we want to do moving forward and then bring that to KTM and ask them what they want to do and really develop a plan between that time.

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 SUPERCROSS UPDATE //450SX – 11 RACES DOWN, 6 TO-GO

Rider	Wins	Podiums	Top-Fives	Average	Points
Webb	2	9	11	2.4	248
Tomac	6	8	9	2.8	248
Sexton	2	8	10	3.4	226
Roczen	1	2	7	5.4	199
Anderson	0	2	7	5.2	199
Barcia	0	3	5	5.6	195
Plessinger	0	1	4	6.7	180

Cooper Webb: 11 cons. top-5, 7 cons. podiums
Eli Tomac: 6 wins, 83 laps led
Chase Sexton: 2 wins, 50 laps led

Ken Roczen: Got Suzuki a much-needed win
Jason Anderson: Needs a win!
Justin Barcia: Been very consistent: 4 cons. top-5
Aaron Plessinger: Heartbreak at Detroit, led 20 laps

Notes:

• 4 different winners
• 4 different brands
• 7 different riders on the podium, and 10 who’ve led laps
• 1 more triple-crown, Glendale, then five regular rounds to finish the season

250SX WEST – 5 RACES DOWN, 4 TO-GO

Rider	Wins	Podiums	Top-Fives	Average	Points
J. Lawrence	4	5	5	1.2	127
Hampshire	0	4	4	3.8	104
McAdoo	0	4	4	3.6	101

*Kitchen- won triple-crown overall at A2 (6^th in points)

Jett Lawrence: Led 60 laps
R.J Hampshire: Led 4 laps

250SX EAST – 6 RACES DOWN, 4 TO-GO

Rider	Wins	Podiums	Top-Fives	Average	Points
H. Lawrence	5	6	6	1.3	151
Thrasher	1	4	4	5.3	116
Deegan	0	4	4	4.8	111

Hunter Lawrence: Led 68 laps
Nate Thrasher: Led 18 laps

Notes

• Lawrence Bros: 9 wins, 11 pods., 11 top-5’s, led 128/156 (82%) of 250SX Class laps
• Honda: Has only swept both coasts twice- ’91 and ‘12
• Honda: won 13 250SX Class in ’91, tied with Kawasaki who won 13 in ’04. Four more wins out of the six races left would tie. Five would break the all-time single season record.
• Kawasaki: Has the most 250SX Class wins, but is in jeopardy of going winless. Only four times in 250SX Class history has that happened.
• April 22nd: Rd. 14 will be Hunter v Jett

THE MAN BEHIND ELI TOMAC’S SUCCESS

CLASSIC MXA PHOTO