Julien Beaumer only had an hour on the 450 KTM before setting off for France but the American did his job for team USA and came back very impressed with the event and Jeffrey Herlings!
Beaumer said: “ An animal. F**king animal! No comment. I don’t even know. Well, it’s a bucket list to race with that guy. To ride that track at the speed he was going….it’s amazing for me. F**k props – incredible.”
On learning from the GP riders and their different style, Beaumer said: “You can definitely apply some things. I now understand why the Euros are so technical.
“This truck brings out the technical side of it. You got to stand a lot, super tight, off camber, a lot of things like that. So, yeah, overall, I’ve ridden a lot with Jorge (Prado), and I can see why it styles the way it is.
“And I think there’s a lot of things I can take. The U.S. obviously is much different, but there’s a lot of things that I learned today that, for sure, I’ll be able to take back.”
And just to underline how little time Beaumer had on the 450 he said he got it detuned for Sunday! “The first time I rode a 450 was last year. I rode about an hour. I had a stock bike. And then I rode an hour this week on a factory bike. That was my first time really on a factory 450. I would love to have some of them come race. I had to detune it today. I told them it was too much. I need a slower bike!
“Overall, really happy. I got a lot of experience. Incredible. The sight lap and the last moto, riding through the smoke bombs, it was next level! I’ve never sat on the gate so nervous in my life. I was sitting on the gate and I was like, ‘oh my, this is insane.’ But no, I’m super stoked I got to come.”
With 12 months since his career nearly ended with a broken back Beaumer admitted he had tears in his eyes on thr gate for moto one on Sunday representing the USA in a total turnaround for his career from such a low to an incredible high.
“A year ago, I laid in that hospital bed not knowing if I was going to race again,” admitted Beaumer. “To be honest, Moto One this morning, I almost teared up on the line, like, a year ago, I was in the hospital bed not knowing if I’d race, and now I’m here at the Nations. So for me, sitting on the gate, it was like a full bucket list moment. But no, incredible year.”
