Beaton podium headlines Yamaha’s ProMX exertions at Murray Bridge

CDR Yamaha Monster Energy Team rider, Jed Beaton, finished second at round five of the ProMX Championships at Murray Bridge and now sits seven points behind the championship leader with three rounds remaining. Words: Yamaha

A cool and crisp day in South Australia saw the nation’s best motocross riders assemble at the Murray Bridge circuit for round five of the ProMX. The red soiled circuit was in immaculate condition and proved to be a real challenge as it cut up and became extremely rough by day’s end.

Beaton started the day strongly, taking victory in the Superpole event to give him the first pick of the gate for the two thirty-minute races later that afternoon.

Race one saw Beaton mid pack on the opening lap of the race but surging his way forward. He made quick work of the rest of the field and soon found himself in second place but some ten seconds behind race leader and championship rival, Kyle Webster.

The gap ebbed and flowed throughout the race as each rider threw punches on the time sheets and lapped riders came into play in the later stages. But the result didn’t change with Webster taking the win and Beaton in second.

Race two and it was a better start from the Yamaha rider as he found himself within striking distance of his championship rival. The gap was down to a couple of seconds at certain points during the moto, but he was never close enough to attempt a pass or really pour the pressure on for a race win.

His 2-2 results saw him pickup another round podium and his consistency has seen him not finish off the podium in any ProMX race contested so far this year. With a seven-point gap and three rounds remaining, all in Queensland, it’s down the business end of the premier MX1 championship and Beaton knows he will need to start peeling off race wins to get the job done in 2024.

“A bit of a frustrating day all round today for both me and the team,” Beaton lamented. “I had good pace in Superpole but wasn’t able to produce that consistently enough in the motos when I really needed it.

“Kyle rode some great races and he was just that bit better than me today, so I need to go back and figure out what I need to do for the final few rounds to really take it up to him. It’s not all gloom and doom as I’m determined to fight this thing all the way to the end and desperately want to win this championship for myself and the team.

“The next round is at Toowoomba in a few weeks’ time, and it is a track that I have done well at in the past, so I’m confident going into that event that I will have a good weekend and make up some points in the championship.”

All going well, Beaton will be joined by teammate Dean Ferris at Toowoomba, who is on track with his recovery from a broken hand at the Maitland round. Ferris hopes to be on the bike in the week leading up to the Toowoomba event and ready to do battle on a track he loves.

Kingsford Moves To Second In MX2 Championship

Despite a challenging day at round five of the ProMX Championship at Murray Bridge, Yamalube Yamaha Team racer, Ryder Kingsford, showed real fight as he finished the day in fifth position in the MX2 class, but more importantly moved to second place in the championship.
The Yamalube Yamaha Racing Team were out two-thirds capacity on the weekend with Kaleb Barham on the sidelines due to a wrist injury, so it was left to Ryder Kingsford and Jayce Cosford to fly the team flag on the always technical Murray Bridge circuit.

It was Kingsford’s first visit to the Murray Bridge track and it took him some laps in practice before finding his feet and getting to snare a top five position in qualifying, and with it some confidence into the two motos scheduled that day.

Kingsford was off to a solid start in race one and inside the top ten on the opening lap when on the exit of a fast, sweeping right hand turn at the back of the track, he was hit by another rider and crashed heavily over the back of a berm.

He regained his composure and remounted his bent up bike and re-joined the race. At the end of lap one he was over a minute behind the leaders and 30 seconds behind the rider in second last place. He had a long and lonely race in front of him.

The first half of the race was just trying to reel in the pack and get his way into the top twenty and get some points. With five minutes to go, he had cracked the top twenty, but it wasn’t over. In the last five minutes, Kingsford passed another ten riders to cross the line in tenth place in a remarkable ride that would have barely been noticed by the spectators track side.

Between the motos, he took off his boots to find his toes throbbing and swelling quickly to the point where getting his foot back in the boot for moto two was tough. But tough he was as he then went back at it again in moto two, coming from outside the top ten on lap one to charge his way through to make a final lap pass into third. The pass didn’t last as he was hung up on a lap rider, but he crossed the line in fourth place and his 10-4 results gave him fifth for the round and moved him to second in the championship.

“I am feeling pretty sore now,” Kingsford said post-race. “My toes are swollen, and I am generally sore all over. The only fortunate thing was it was my rear brake foot, not the gear level so I was able to ride with it.

“I got hit pretty hard and went over the berm. The bike was bent up as I could feel the sub frame was twisted and the bars weren’t perfect, but I just got back into the race and did what I could. I felt I rode pretty well all day, so happy with out that went and the tram did a great job of getting my bike turned around for moto two. I will get my toes looked at and then look to get things back on track at the next round in Toowoomba,” Kingsford said.

Teammate Jayce Cosford also tasted the Murray Bridge soil more than he would have liked with a couple of crashes in race one. He then stalled the bike in race two. Cosford finished with 11-7 results on the weekend and now sits seventh on the championship but well within striking distance of the top five.

“I still struggled with my qualifying and even in moto one, where I just don’t have enough speed to match the front guys,” Cosford explained. “Moto one I had an ok start and was moving forward but then crashed and dropped a heap of positions and then had a small tip over a little later in the moto.

“Race two was much better as I had a good start and was into second place on the opening laps. I lost a bit of flow in the middle part of the race and then picked it back up only to stall in and lose a few more spots. Seventh isn’t great, but it was good to run up the front for a while and be in the race,” Cosford insisted,

Round Six of the ProMX Championship hits the rolling red hills of Echo Valley in Toowoomba on July 21.

Image: Yamaha