Beaumer is For Real: “At the start of this year I had a goal set in mind and it was to do this”

At Anaheim battled veteran Jordon Smith in both the heat race and the main event and while on the heels of race leader Jo Shimoda, he did not get over excited and force an ill-timed pass for the lead that cost him. No, he was not perfect, but he did not make a young mistake we often see young riders make early in supercross. Then, his mindset after the race was clear he was thinking big picture.

“Just minimizing those mistakes that I made on race day,” he said after A1. “I felt like I rode a lot more mature than I did last year and a lot less sporadic. So, I just rode calm, smooth, and just tried to ride like I ride at the test track. So, I think we showed that tonight, I'm one of the title contenders for this year.”

Well, just a few hours after we posted that write up on Beaumer and the other three riders, the night show began Beaumer would build off his P2 in overall 250SX qualifying to finish P3 in his heat race. Beaumer nailed his start in the main event and came out behind rookie Cole Davies. The two went back and forth, with Beaumer applying pressure to the #100 in just his second pro race.

Beaumer executed a well-timed block pass: clean and in and out on the inside, before blasting out of the turn and away with the race lead. From there, he was basically perfect. Put in some fast laps to get himself some breathing room, while also staying smooth and not out of control. That is the key he mentioned after the opener, don’t be sporadic. He would go on to take the checkered flag for his first pro win on a huge night that also saw him leaves with the 250SX West Region Championship lead.

His self-belief had improved once this season started, but how big was this night?

“Yeah, for sure, it’s definitely confidence boosting,” Beaumer started off the post-race press conference with. “I think at the start of this year I had a goal set in mind and it was to do this. I just needed to believe in myself, and I think I show that I believe in myself tonight.”

Focusing on himself is the key, too. All eyes have been on Haiden Deegan to start the season, and he has finished fifth and third, sitting ten points down to Beumer after two rounds. Was there a mental clock ticking Saturday night for Beaumer to be cautious of where Deegan was late in the race?

“Obviously we knew he was going to come in and be fast,” Beaumer said on pre-season favorite Deegan. “There was no question about that. He was fast last year. He's gonna be fast this year. But I was fast at the test track, and I knew that if I could bring what I do at the test track to the race, be right there. So, it wasn't too big of a surprise that I was right there with him. The difference for me was I had to bring it to the race, and I feel like I've done that.”

“Second part of that, I mean, nah, I wasn't really paying attention [to where Deegan was],” he added. “I was more so looking at the clock, when I saw the clock get to eight minutes was when I decided I wanted to go for it and get around Davies and really start hammering down laps. So, no, I wasn't really keeping markers until I'd say probably like the last four laps.”

And even with a big triple-quad line that most young hotshots get excited about that he was jumping in qualifying, the KTM rider played in smart in the main event.

“I mean, obviously the quad was a little bit faster, but it wasn't a crazy amount, and I felt like if I could make it up on the rest of the track,” he said. “I looked at it on the sight lap and the corner was pretty choppy and I almost thought about it when I saw [Cole] Davies start doing it. But I mean there was like three laps where I for sure thought he was dead, so I was like now I'll just stick to 2-3-2! It's not too much slower and it's a lot more consistent.”

That final line proves a lot. Beaumer has unlocked his mid-week test track speed, which is huge, but even more significant that he can have that speed while being consistent. He didn't throw it away at A1 and settle for second. He waited out Davies in the early laps of San Diego. He didn't jump the big jump and focused on staying smart. How high in the ceiling for Beaumer? We will see if the pressure gets to him this weekend at the Anaheim 2 Supercross when he has the red backgrounds on his number plates first thing Saturday morning.