Main image by Mitch Kendra
Julien “Juju” Beaumer turned heads in the first Supercross Futures event of the 2023 Monster Energy AMA Supercross season. He qualified fastest and was riding well throughout the day, but a DNF in the main event due to a bike issue (broken triple clamps) left him with a 16th in the results page. But Beaumer got the attention of several teams, and the Arizona native is now the newest face on the Orange Brigade KTM amateur racing program.
After about three years aboard Yamahas, the #29 announced his KTM deal on February 23 and made his KTM racing debut just two days later in the Supercross Futures event at the Arlington Supercross. Beaumer was second fastest in qualifying in his orange debut and brought home a fourth-place finish in the main event.
Beaumer and his family made a stop in Florida for the Ricky Carmichael Daytona Amateur Supercross (RCSX) event earlier this month. Beaumer finished first in the 250 A Road to SX Futures main event then second in the Open A main event. He was leading the Open A main event until a mistake in the whoops caused him to get bucked from the pegs and when he landed, he damaged his shifter lever. He tried to fix it momentarily before managing to put it in third gear and ride home with a third-place finish.
Afterwards, I caught up with Juju as his crew was packing up to talk about his experience at RCSX, Supercross Futures, and what his schedule for the next few months look like. He skipped the big March races in Texas (JS7 Classic at Freestone and the Spring-A-Ding) but watch for the #29 in the Glendale Supercross Futures race—his hometown event—this weekend.
Racer X Online: Juju, take us through the racing today.
Julien Beaumer: It was good. In 250 A, got off to a pretty good start. I think I was about fifth, worked my way up into the front and just tried to set a good pace and bring it home.
I didn’t get to see, but you had a little bit of a bike issue they said at the beginning of the second race?
Yeah. I just made a mistake in the whoops, and I missed one. It bucked my feet off the pegs. When I came down, I landed on the shifter, and I broke all the teeth off the shifter. So, my shifter was stuck all the way down. I pulled off to try and fix it, and I couldn’t so I just put it in third gear and rode it like that.
Talk about the Supercross Futures. That’s been a really good program for guys that are ready to make the next step. What has that been like to get that experience?
That’s been awesome racing in the night show. That whole day in general is very full of experience and you learn a lot doing that. The track gets so rough. The way the track breaks down, it’s so much different than an amateur national. I feel like that’s definitely the right step when you’re going towards the pros.
Being that it’s on the race day of the actual AMA Supercross pro event, you’re riding the night show, a part of the broadcast, does that make you more nervous than if it was on a Friday or the day before or the day after? What’s that like? How do you manage those nerves? I’m sure it’s got to be a little bit on your mind.
For sure. Walking into the tunnel at the night show is definitely a different experience. A2 I was for sure nervous walking down that tunnel. You look up in the stadium and all the lights are on, the stadium is full. Your nerves go up, for sure. Heart rate spikes. The first couple laps are definitely scary. But Arlington was a little bit better. Controlled it a little more and was able to kind of block out the stadium and just focus on riding.
More on RCSX
The first race you qualified really well and then did you have an issue with your handlebars or something happened early in the race of that main event? What happened there?
Yeah. I cased a triple on lap one and my bars folded all the way down to my knees. Nothing I really could do.
You had the big change obviously to the Orange Brigade KTM program now. Talk us through what’s that been like, how that came about, and what that experience has been like so far.
That’s been awesome. We got in contact right after Anaheim, and I was on the bike the week before Arlington. I put three days on it and felt really good, so we decided, let’s go out and get some experience, learn the bike on a rougher track. Everyone over there has been awesome to me. “Pedro” [Richard Sterling], Carlos [Rivera], Ian [Harrison], Daniel [Blair], Madee [Harris]. Everyone has been really helpful in getting me comfortable really quick.
Quick turnaround to getting on and racing the bike. You’ve been on Yamaha for a couple years now, right?
I’ve been on Yamaha since 2020.
So was there a big adjustment to that KTM? And kind of throwing it into Supercross Futures. It’s not just any other race. Anything specific you worked on when you first got on the KTM? What were the training days like and the days of testing like?
They were definitely different than a normal day. Day one was obviously just getting used to the bike, feeling everything out. Then I had a pretty good day of riding day two. Then day three we tested, so it was more feeling the bike out, seeing what we needed to change, seeing what I liked, don’t like. Obviously then we didn’t have too much time on the bike going into Arlington. So, we definitely learned a lot about the bike there and coming into here as well.
What’s after this? More Supercross Futures and then do the championship finale? What’s your next couple months look like, leading up to Loretta Lynn’s?
I’m going to go home, get back on supercross. Get ready for Glendale Supercross Futures. Do that. I’ll do New Jersey and I’ll do Salt Lake [City], and then after that, get ready for Loretta’s.
Then just Loretta’s and see where that goes, or is there any plans after that? Or just one more amateur year? Do you know yet or is it too soon to say?
It will really depend on my results at Loretta’s as well as how I am in the off-season. After Loretta’s, I’ll probably get right back on supercross and see where my speed is, see where my fitness is and make a decision from there.
You might not be able to say, but your Orange Brigade program, is that just a one-year deal for now or how long is that?
I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say exactly, but it’s definitely a long-term deal.