At the Anaheim 1 Supercross season opener, Julien Beaumer had a strong SX debut. The Arizona native qualified third overall on his Red Bull KTM, out of the B qualifying group, and then grabbed the early lead in his heat race. He would eventually come through second to Maximus Vohland before getting yet another great start in the 250SX main event. Beaumer led the first full lap of the main event and was running in second the first half of the race until Jordon Smith passed him on the ninth lap. Eventually, Beaumer came through the checkered flag sixth in an impressive, solid, AMA Supercross debut. After the race, our Kellen Brauer caught up with Beaumer to get the rookie’s take on his first ever A1.
Racer X: All right, Julien Beaumer. Well, first of all, thank you because I was saying you were flying at the test track all off season and then you proved me very right. So I appreciate that. Supercross debut, I don't think it could go much better other than getting on the podium. I mean, you did everything right. You were on top of the board a lot, you holeshot the main event. I mean, can you describe the emotions of how well this went?
Julien Beaumer: Yeah, for sure. I'm really happy with my starts that we've worked really hard on the bike this off-season. So, I'm happy to show all that work we put in this off-season. Other than that, I mean, my riding for the first ten minutes of that main work was really good. I was in second still. And then I just, I made some mistakes. I struggled a little bit with the track, obviously tracks a lot rougher than our test track's been all off season. There's so many more guys, dirt so much different. So, I think for me, I just left a little bit on the table those last five minutes. I struggled a little bit. But I'm happy with qualifying, happy with my heat race. Obviously heat race. First heat race is always nerve-wracking. So, I was happy to get out of the heat race as clean as possible and look forward to the main. Other than that, happy to come out of here with six and I'm ready to be in the top five and possibly in the podium in San Fran.
What's it like when you look up, there's nobody in front of you. It's Anaheim one and you're leading the race. It's got to be pretty crazy, right?
Yeah, for sure. The first lap I was leading, it was pretty gnarly. Yeah, it's crazy. Especially like, I don't know, it was probably…I think I held my breath for the first ten minutes, I think. Yeah, everything went downhill when I started breathing again because it was definitely tough the first ten minutes, being up there. But I'm gonna keep learning each weekend. Get used to being in that spot. I feel like I belong there and that's where I should be. So, I'm gonna keep getting better each weekend and see where we end up in San Fran.
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What is the biggest thing you felt like you did learn that you’re most excited to kind of take into San Francisco next week?
I think the biggest thing I learned was bike set up. The tracks a lot different than what we train in. It gets so much more rutty, so much more choppy. So, I'm really excited to go back this week, make some changes to the bike, change some things and hopefully come out a little more prepared and in San Fran.
The whoops cupped out quite a bit. It kind of turned into sort of jumpers a little bit at a certain point. Did you learn, I guess anything about like that switch over of when it's time to jump or when it's time to skim a certain line or change it up a little bit in the whoops?
Yeah, that's where I struggled tonight. I kept blitzing the whole main, in that second set and they started jumping and I think that was definitely something I should have picked up on a little bit earlier and started doing. Yeah, I think that's something I'm gonna have to go back and work on: jumping. Work on knowing when it's time to jump and when the track gets gnarly enough to jump. So, I'm gonna keep working on that, keep gaining experience and be good in San Fran.
How much different do you think the nerves will be next week?
I think a lot different. Yeah, for sure. I think, it's A1, it's the biggest race of the year. It's your debut. I can't get more nerve wracking. I don't think so. Especially the heat race, you never know. Anything can go wrong. So, happy to get out of Anaheim 1 ready to go, healthy and carried into San Fran.
