The Gilman round of the ProMX Championship was bought forward in the calendar to avoid the SA wet season and the muddy events that have plagued the round in recent times. It proved to be a masterstroke as a perfect Autumn Day greeted the riders and teams on Sunday and it was clear blue sky from sun up to sundown with Jed Beaton finishing second at Gillman.
Jed Beaton entered the weekend looking to capitalise on his Horsham victory at the previous round and consolidate his MX1 championship lead. Beaton came out all guns blazing in the qualifying and Superpole sessions to grab the all important P1 and first choice of the gate, giving him the inside line to a tight turn one.
Beaton started well and slotted into third as the opening lap unfolded in race one. The leading trio of Kyle Webster, Dean Ferris and Beaton charged away from the pack, and it soon become a race in three. All three were never further apart than three seconds for the opening 20 minutes of the moto but Beaton decided it was his time to make a move. He made his way past Ferris and clawed his way to the rear tyre of Webster looking for a way past in the final minutes of the moto.
He looked for any opportunity but couldn’t find a way past Webster and was forced to settle for second.
Race two was all about getting the win and it was obvious for the drop of the gate, Beaton had something to prove. He was just inside the top five as the field completed lap one but he went of a rampage and charged straight to the head of the field in the next two laps.
He was just starting to break away and get a cushion over his rivals, when he made a mistake on the challenging Gilman circuit and went down, handing the lead back to Webster. He regained composure and set off in pursuit but couldn’t find his way back passed and again finished second.
“Just frustration is my only emotion right now,” Beaton said at days’ end. “I had everything I needed to win today as my bike was awesome, my speed was good all day and I just made a mistake that cost me the round victory and in the same situation as what happened at round one.”
“Thanks to the CDR Yamaha team for their hard work, I just need to deliver on the weekends, so it’s back to work this week and make sure it doesn’t happen again at Maitland,” Beaton ends.
Dean Ferris left the Gilman venue feeling the same, but there is some positivity the four-time champion can take away. Gilman hasn’t always been the best track for Ferris as he has had some struggles here in the past, but he showed he was up to the challenge to finish with 3-5 results to take fourth on the day and sit fourth in the MX1 championship.
Ferris was riding well and matching the pace of the championship leaders in moto one, he shadowed Webster for the first 20 minutes, but was relegated back to third when Beaton was on a mission to the front. He dropped off the pace in the last couple of laps but still logged a solid third place.
Race two and he didn’t get the start he needed and was sitting in sixth place trying to move forward. He was able to gain a place by the end of the moto and take fifth and put together a consistent day but as always, the champ was wanting more.
“I guess there are two ways to look at it. I come to every race to win it and I couldn’t do that, so that’s not good. But on the positive side, I rode much better than last year here and that was a good step to take.
“I had some vision issues as I was just taking roost all moto in race two, but my pace wasn’t quite there in that one either. But the team put in a lot of hard work between the rounds and I think we are definitely making gains, so I look forward to Maitland and a track where I had a lot of success last year and really got on a roll,” Ferris said.
Round four of the ProMX Championship heads to the Hunter Valley and the Maitland circuit on May 24-26. Th MX1 points are tight at the top with just one point separating Webster and Beaton, while Ferris is in fourth, just 32 points back.
