A cool and crisp day in South Australia saw the nations best motocross riders, including Jed Beaton, assemble at the Murray Bridge circuit for round five of the ProMX. The red soiled circuit was in immaculate condition and proved to be a real challenge as it cut up and become extremely rough by days’ end.
Beaton started the day strongly, taking victory in the Superpole event to give him the first pick of the gate for the two, thirty-minute races later that afternoon.
Race one saw Beaton mid pack on the opening lap of the race but surging his way forward. He made quick work of the rest of the field and soon found himself in second place but some ten seconds behind race leader and championship rival, Kyle Webster.
The gap ebbed and flowed throughout the race as each rider through punches on the time sheets and lapped riders came into play in the later stages, but the result didn’t change with Webster taking the win and Beaton in second.
Race two and it was a better start from the Yamaha rider and found himself within striking distance of his championship rival. The gap was down to a couple of seconds at certain points during the moto, but he was never close enough to attempt a pass or really pour the pressure on for a race win.
His 2-2 results saw him pickup another round podium and his consistency has seen him not finish off the podium in any ProMX race contested so far this year. With a seven-point gap and three rounds remaining, all in Queensland, its down the business end of the premier MX1 championship and Beaton knows he will need to start peeling off race wins to get the job done in 2024.
“A bit of a frustrating day all round today for both me and the team,” Beaton laments. “I had good pace in Superpole but wasn’t able to produce that consistently enough in the motos when I really needed it.
“Kyle rode some great races and he was just that bit better than me today, so I need to go back and figure out what I need to do for the final few rounds to really take it up to him.
“It’s not all gloom and doom as I’m determined to fight this thing all the way to the end and desperately want to win this championship for myself and the team.
“The next round is at Toowoomba in a few weeks’ time, and it is a track that I have done well at in the past, so I’m confident going into that event that I will have a good weekend and make up some points in the championship,” he ends.
All going well Beaton will be joined by teammate, Dean Ferris at Toowoomba who is on track with his recovery from a broken hand at the Maitland round. Ferris hopes to be bike on the bike in the week leading up the Toowoomba event and ready to do battle on a track he loves.
