Just like the track conditions, Julien Beaumer’s results from SMX Playoff 1 were drastically different to round two. While the Arizona native struggled in the mud in Ohio, he showed up ready to go in LA and went P1 in qualifying. He then went out and pulled both holeshots. He led moto one from start to finish, withstanding pressure from Ryder DiFrancesco the whole way. And in moto two he eventually gave up the lead to Levi Kitchen and second to Jo Shimoda, knowing with the two-moto format with Olympic scoring that a 1-3 would still get him the overall.
After an up and down AMA Pro Motocross Championship season, where he acquired two overall wins, Julien was happy to be back racing in stadiums as he spoke about in the post-race press conference. Remember, Beaumer missed all of Monster Energy AMA Supercross as he recovered from his back injury from last year's SMX Playoff 1 in North Carolina.
“I think just being back in the stadium for me was nice," he said. "Obviously, I showed great speed last week on Friday. Again, yesterday I felt like I showed pretty good speed, I felt like I made a couple of mistakes. But I was able to clean that up in those first two sessions. I just felt good, the only thing I was worried about was I only did one lap at a time in qualifying. And to go into that first moto that was 23-ish laps. So, probably not the brightest on my end but we were able to make it work.”
This was Julien’s second win in the last three races. Ironically, it is also the second time that Julien and his teammate Jorge Prado swept the day, both winning their respective classes for Red Bull KTM. Which means Julien’s results look like 1-18-1 over those three races (Pro Motocross finale and the first two SMX Playoff races).
Beaumer said It's not always easy to rebound after such a terrible weekend.
“Not necessarily to show that I can perform in the dry, I think we know I’m good when it's dry," Beaumer said about his win in California. "For me, it was just obviously, it's hard to rebound from a weekend like that. I think I went 16-18 not great. But for me it was just like what I said, look at it as round one, right back to the start. I was able to put last weekend behind me all week and show up today.”
Beaumer now sits third in SMX points, 16 points back of Levi Kitchen. While third would still be a decent pay day at $150,000, Julien is still not losing focus on winning this SMX World Championship. With triple points this weekend, he is right in the mix.
“Obviously, I think if it was a different scenario, yes, but we have the double triple points," he said. "Obviously, I am going to need some luck on my side to pull it off. I just went into the week, ‘New week for me, round one.’ I knew that I basically have to win these last two. We started off good and yeah, I need to do it again next weekend.”
Again, with triple points paid out at the finale, Julien certainly isn’t out of it just yet. All it will take is for Julien to have another weekend like he had at Ironman or LA and for Levi Kitchen and Ryder DiFrancesco to have a little bad luck on their side. However, Kitchen has had more than his fair share of bad luck lately, and Ryder D is on a podium streak at the moment. Even when DiFrancesco got collected by Cole Davies bike in the second moto in LA and went down, he still rallied back to fifth place for second overall. All this to say it won’t be easy for Beaumer. But the triple points will help if Julien can execute at the finale exactly as he did last weekend. The only thing we know for sure is that with the SMX Playoff format, it is sure to be another exciting round of racing.
| Position | Rider | Hometown | Qualifying Points | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Levi Kitchen | Washougal, WA  | 541 | 153 |
| 2 |  Ryder DiFrancesco | Bakersfield, CA | 490 | 129 |
| 3 |  Cole Davies | Waitoki, New Zealand  | 638 | 128 |
| 4 |  Julien Beaumer | Lake Havasu City, AZ | 369 | 119 |
| 5 |  Landen Gordon | Murrieta, CA | 191 | 104 |
