
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
SAN DIEGO — Years of growing up watching the sport and all the hard work has paid off for 250SX West rider Julien Beaumer. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider captured his maiden Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship victory at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego Saturday.
Known as “Juju,” the Arizonian was on the prowl, lurking behind leader Cole Davies in the opening seven laps. Then on Lap 8, Beaumer made the decision to make the move on Davies once the clock was winding down and never looked back on the main event as he won by 3.087 seconds over Jordon Smith.
“I really those first seven laps to figure out where I can make a pass. I tried once at the mechanics area, and I didn’t make it stick, and I had to get back to work,” Beaumer said of the winning pass on Davies.
“He was trying to set that corner up to that three-in and I saw that opening and dived down to the inside, pushed him off the berm. I got close and I just made the move.”
Consistency has favored Smith, who feels two sides of emotions after finishing second in San Diego. On one side, he’s happy with starting off the 250SX West season with back-to-back podiums. On the other hand, Smith knows there’s room for improvement if he wants to put up a fight in the championship.
“I’m really happy with the starts. The bike is really powerful out of the gate,” said Smith, who got the holeshot advantage. “Whenever you can get out anywhere in the top-three almost every start. It really saves a lot of chaos that could happen. I think we still have a lot of room to improve on the bike on race days. I haven’t really brought the comfort that I have on practice days to the races yet.
“The dirt is a lot different, the whoops is a lot different. There’s going to be a little bit of growing pains, but I think it’s pretty positive that we do feel like we still have so much room to improve and we’re still battling up there.”
Rounding out the podium is reigning 250SX SuperMotocross World Champion Haiden Deegan. After setting quick qualifying times throughout Saturday, Deegan had a wild night. The 19-year-old racer was involved in a harrowing accident during his heat race that nearly led to a head-on collision with Yamaha teammate Cole Thompson during his heat race. Fortunately, Deegan was able to still make the 22-bike main event after finishing third.
From there, it was a rather frustrating night for the ever-competitive Deegan where anything other than a win is disappointing that it can leave him in a difficult situation. More so when people suddenly have high expectations for him as he’s becoming a successful rider.
“I just want to win. It’s miserable not winning,” said Deegan. “I go through these weeks and it’s just like it sucks man, but we’ll figure it out. It’ll come around here soon. At least I got through this round safe and still got a podium. I just got to figure out how to get the top step.”
With a win under Beaumer’s belt, the focus shifts onto the next round with the goal of keeping the red plate on his No. 23 KTM bike. He’ll enter Anaheim 2 with a five-point advantage over Smith as his confidence level has boosted in what’s already been a strong start to his sophomore season in the category.
Safe to say, Beaumer has come a long way since the days he was racing in Supercross Futures on a privateer Yamaha two years ago.
“I was racing Futures on my own with no help. To be here (Saturday), it’s incredible,” said Beaumer. “Obviously, there’s a lot of sacrifice put into it and I put a lot of pressure on myself this off-season and in the beginning of the season to do what I do, and I think it’s paying off.”
Last Saturday’s winner Jo Shimoda finished seventh and dropped down to third in points, trailing Beaumer by seven points.
It’s back to Anaheim for the 250SX West riders as the third round of the SMX World Championship Series and the indoor stadium season of Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship kicks off Saturday, January 25. Live coverage begins at 8:30 p.m. ET on Peacock. Levi Kitchen won last year’s event.
2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship at San Diego 250SX Main Event Results:
- 23 – Julien Beaumer
- 19 – Jordon Smith (Holeshot)
- 38 – Haiden Deegan
- 100 – Cole Davies
- 25 – Ryder DiFrancesco
- 37 – Coty Schock
- 30 – Jo Shimoda
- 36 – Garrett Marchbanks
- 93 – Michael Mosiman
- 63 – Hunter Yoder
- 52 – Anthony Bourdon
- 61 – Cole Thompson
- 54 – Jett Reynolds
- 334 – Brad West
- 302 – Parker Ross
- 91 – TJ Albright
- 260 – Nico Koch
- 115 – Gavin Towers
- 101 – Dylan Walsh
- 67 – Joshua Varize
- 26 – Ty Masterpool (DNF)
- 65 – Lux Turner (DNF)