Factory Red Bull KTM’s Julien Beaumer had a career night to start off his 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross campaign, taking second in the 250SX main event. Beaumer was the “flying at the test track” rider of the off-season and he backed up the hype last night at A1.
“We’re in a lot better space mentally and physically than we were last year, and I have a lot more belief in myself that I can go the distance,” said the second-year supercross pro in a team statement. “Today I concentrated on minimizing the mistakes on race day, I rode with a lot more maturity than I did last season. I rode calmly, smoothly and tried to ride like I do at the test track. I feel like I achieved that and showed that I’m one of the title contenders this year.”
Beaumer told our Jason Weigandt that while he did have good one-lap speed at the test track a year ago, he still lacked the fitness base to translate that into 15-minute main events on Saturday. Note that he holeshot Anaheim 1 last year but eventually finished sixth. Now a year further into building a pro fitness base, he was much stronger.
“Juju” kicked off the season in style by winning a lap time duel with Haiden Deegan during the second qualifying session, securing the first pole position of the year. He carried this momentum into the evening, triumphing in a thrilling heat race against Jordan Smith to earn his second career heat win. Beaumer followed up with an impressive main event performance, closely trailing Jo Shimoda for most of the race to finish second and claim his first career 250SX podium. Reflecting on the race, he told Steve Matthes, “Jo rode really good. I almost went for it, but I thought, you know what? It’s round one—you can’t win the championship here, but you can certainly lose it.”
In the press conference, Beaumer attributed his strong showing at Anaheim to a productive off-season, saying, “The biggest thing for me this off-season was how perfect it was for me. I put in a lot of work, and I had a lot of confidence in the effort I put in and how I was riding at the test track.”
Anaheim 1 marked Beaumer’s best performance of 2024, and the focus now shifts to whether he can maintain this level in San Diego. Last year, any momentum from Anaheim was lost in back-to-back mud races at subsequent rounds. However, Beaumer is confident he can stay competitive this time.
Reflecting on his growth, he compared this performance to last year, saying, “I rode calm, smooth, and tried to ride like I do at the test track. I think we showed that tonight, and I definitely believe I’m one of the title contenders this year.”
