Julien Beaumer on 250SX Debut | Interview

It was in Anaheim, California, twelve months ago that Julien Beaumer burst onto the scene as an unknown quantity. The current landscape is drastically different – '929' is poised to make his professional debut in Red Bull KTM Factory Racing colors and tipped to do superb things in 250SX West competition. In talking to him at the team's recent launch, it became apparent that his perspective is unique as such a momentous occasion beckons.

Aware of his obvious potential, as well as the pitfalls that rookies tend to encounter in their launch period, Beaumer has seemingly devised a strategy to account for all that he foresees. Such perspective has likely been acquired from the wealth of knowledge in 'orange' and the experiences that Davi Millsaps, his right-hand man, had as a prodigy. No rider knows how to bear the weight of expectation like the thirteen-time winner.

Vital MX: When you look back on your last twelve months, it is crazy how far you have come and how much your life has changed. Do you ever think about that and catch yourself thinking, "Sh*t. This has happened really fast. I cannot believe where I am now."

Julien Beaumer: Yeah, for sure. I think that it was like my first month on supercross with the team. I was learning everything and getting in the groove of the team with everyone around. You catch yourself thinking, "Damn, twelve months ago I was in the B class as a privateer." Everything was on my own and now we are here, not far out from Anaheim 1. I have just got to remind myself of where I was a year ago and keep grinding.

When your life changes that quickly, I guess that you have to be quite mentally strong to not doubt yourself or whether you deserve the opportunities that are now presenting themselves. You must be quite mentally content to handle such rapid progression.

Yeah, for sure. I think that this entire sport is so mental – you have definitely got to be mentally strong to be up front and fighting for wins every weekend. I have definitely got to focus on staying at 100% and healthy. Staying humble too, obviously, because it is a long season and we will have gnarly tracks every weekend. They can bite you quickly if you do not respect the track – things can go wrong very quickly. I think that respecting the track every weekend is the biggest thing for me, as well as staying healthy and hungry. I have got to keep the grind going.

Does Davi Millsaps help you with mental stuff at all? Do you enter those conversations with him?

No, we do not enter them. If I am having a rough day then we get deep. If I am having a bad day, struggling, and he can see that I am not mentally there then we will talk – he will bring me back by telling me that this stuff happens. Not every day is going to be the best day or good. You are going to have rough days because it is a long off-season and bootcamp. You cannot be perfect every day. I have just got to remind myself that not every day is going to be perfect.

How has the adjustment to being a factory rider been? You have endless parts to test and even Chase [Sexton] has said that he is amazed by how much there is to test here. Would you yourself say that you are a good test rider?

I think that I have learned a lot about testing in the last twelve months. I think that I am in a pretty good spot now – I can relay information back to the engine and suspension guys. Like Chase said, there is an endless number of things to test here. We are testing something new every day. I think that it is about finding a setting that we are happy with and riding that for a couple of weeks. We are really happy with the bike right now, so I think that we are going to stick with what we have and then fine tune some stuff coming into Anaheim 1. We are really happy with where we are at right now.

All I hear is how well you are riding and, of course, we saw how good you were in 'Supercross Futures' last year. It is your rookie season, but I feel like you can enter with high expectations. Do you agree and is it hard to not get carried away?

For sure. I think that, for me, a big thing is setting a high goal. Having something that you do not know if you can do, but you want to be there. That keeps me hungry – setting a goal that I know that I can achieve if I keep my head down and continue to travel in the direction that I am going. We have had a really good off-season and I believe that I am right there with the top guys. We have high expectations, coming into the season, but we have got to take it week by week and stay healthy.