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EP#8 - Jed Beaton's broken femur & MXGP v ProMX salaries

• mitch lees

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We talk with CDR Yamaha Rider Jed Beaton on how it all turned form good to bad in 2025 with hi broken femur, his chances of making the MXoN team while riding a Yamaha and how MXGP salaries compare with ProMX salaries. 

Speaker:

Hello guys. It's Mitch Lee again from a DB podcast. We've got another episode today. We're with, CDA, Yamaha writer Jed Beaton. And we wanna know, from Jed how he's going with his recovery from his accident, and how the accident played into his, Yeah, chance to get on the Amex of Nation's team and what the future looks like for Jed. So Jed, uh, welcome to the a DB podcast buddy. Thanks for coming on today. No, not a problem. Thanks for having me. So, talk us through the accident, um, broken fema. Um, can you tell us what literally happened on the bike? How did the accident happen?

Speaker 2:

Uh, so it was just a normal day, normal, uh, routine. We're just, uh, doing our morning warmup and then, uh, qualifying session. Um. Yeah, everything's the same. And then, um, I was on a, on a, like a fire slap and come around and, uh, wash speed off on a jump and just, uh, clipped my foot on the up ramp. And then it just sent my feet straight above my head. And yeah, obviously I landed straight on my head and went to get up and obviously felt that I'd had a broken femur. Um, yeah, I kind of knew straight away that it was broken and um. Yeah, I don't know. It's a bit of a tough pill to swallow knowing what was on the line, but, uh, it is what it is. It's part of our sport. And, um, yeah, I just mean now my focus is on, uh, making the best recovery I can and making sure everything goes smoothly. At the moment it feels quite good for, uh, where I'm at. Um, it's just on six weeks now, so, uh, I go back and see a doctor in a couple of days and obviously get the x-rays and. Bit more, uh, bit more information about when I'll be able to get back on a bike and, and when I'll be able to start doing a little bit more and stuff like that. So, um, at this point right now, I don't really know too much, but, uh, yeah, next few days I should find out a lot more and, uh, have some somewhat of direction.

Speaker:

What kind of hardware went into the leg?

Speaker 2:

Uh, they just, um. Took me in, I think it was the day after I crashed, so I had to wait a night and they just, uh, just normal procedure, put it right in it. And, uh, yeah, fixed me up, got me up the next day and got me walking around and pretty, uh, I think it's a pretty straightforward, um, procedure for them. They were pretty confident in it, and I seen the x-rays and stuff from after. The surgery all looked pretty good, but I'm no doctor, so, uh, yeah, we'll see what they say.

Speaker:

Um, okay, so the crash had pretty big implications. Obviously you were in a title fight with Kyle Webster, uh, for the Primex MX one Championship. Um, but we also, you know, those are putters on the sideline, like myself. We're looking at you as a potential, um, candidate for the MX of Nations team. Mm-hmm. Um, what, how did it feel when you crashed and you kind of went, well, there goes the championship. I can tell him what you said. You, you knew your FEMA was broken. How did it feel first up knowing that the Prom X championship probably was gone and at that stage you were the red plate holder too, I believe.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it was a, like I said before, it was a tough pill to swallow, obviously. Um, I was leading the championship from the very first round, so, um, yeah, sort of managed, I think I managed the championship quite well, um, the whole way through the season. I think the closest the points got back down to was like 12 points or something like that. Um, and then, yeah, I started building it back up and having a, a bit more of an advantage and. After, uh, Canberra, it was to 29 points or something like that. So, um, in that way, sort of, I feel like Kyle and I were riding at a good level and, um, yeah, I pretty much just had to get third or fourth, the rest, rest of the series to, uh, yeah, make sure I won the championship. Nothing silly happened and uh, yeah, it's just the way it goes though. It's, um, part of our sport. Um. And yeah, you realize not everything that you plan, plan to do happens. So, um, yeah, it just is what it is. Um, bit of a bit of a bummer at the time. I mean, there's so many things that go through your mind when, when you're in hospital the next day. Um, but it's also been a long time since I've had a, had an injury. So, um, it was more a tough pill to swallow in that sense as well. Probably been like a good. Four or five years, um, without an injury. So, uh, I had a pretty good run going there, but just unfortunate, I mean, I think if I think back now, I've probably crashed maybe four or five times throughout the whole season, practicing and racing all, all year. And yeah, it just takes one, one mistake like that to be, um, a huge consequence. But yeah, it's what we do. It's part of, part of what we do. And, um, you can't really, um. You can't really eliminate that from our sport. So, um, yeah, I'm now just, uh, looking forward to, um, making a full recovery and then putting my focus towards, uh, next year.

Speaker:

Yeah. It's more a case of if, um, sorry, when not if so. Um, alright, let's talk about motor CREs nations because like you said, you're up 29 or 30 points when the accident happened. Mm-hmm. Um, you probably, like you said, cruise around the third or fourth. I say cruise around because you and Kyle, um, uh, streaks ahead probably of the rest of the field at the moment. Uh, I think that's fair to say and I think, uh, you can just look at the right times. You can look at the winning margins you guys have got it right? Yeah. So let's talk about MX Nations then, mate. Um, you know, MX Nations opportunity went up in smoke as well when you broke your FMA for this year. Um, in America. Yeah. What, how, how getting on that MX Nations team, being on the CD Yamaha team here in Australia. He's, DACA runs an awesome team. He's got championship after championship with it. Do you feel like being on a Yamaha, even if you had a won that title by 1520 point. Is gonna make it harder to get on that MX Nations team?

Speaker 2:

Uh, yes and no. Like in my honest opinion, I think, um, obviously, um, with Jet and Hunter and the the Honda side of things, it makes it a lot easier. But in the end of the day, I think people that are selecting the team probably shouldn't select based off equipment that we're gonna get. Um, I think it just should be based on who's the best rider at the time to fill the place. Um. But having said that, it is a lot easier for them to, to have a position like that that's available and so, so ready. Um, and the only thing for us is, um, jet and Hunter also wanna write a four 50. So it was, whoever was selected has to write a two 50. Um, and obviously, um, a two 50 is a lot harder to get a good bike compared to a four 50. You can almost, um. If, like, say I was selected on a four 50, we could take nearly all our parts from here and just make a four 50, but unfortunately with two 50 you can't do something like that. You need to have a really competitive bike because all the bikes, there are world class bikes and uh, a two 50, you're just looking for horsepower really. So, um, Honda having that opportunity, making it easy, uh, obviously makes my position a little bit harder to fight for. But, um, in the end of the day, like I said, it's. It should be based off who's the best guy at the time. Um, and yeah, I mean, it, it's all little pieces that have to go together for motocross nations. Obviously you put your selection in and, and you want to be selected and have the opportunity to go. So, um, everyone sort of wants to represent their country and, um, if you're gonna do it on the, the highest of levels, I think that's one of the races that you'd want to go for. Um, and obviously from my side, I used to race GPS and stuff like that, so I, I wanted to go back and, and catch up with people that I haven't seen for a long time. And, uh, race some guys that I haven't raced for a long time. But, uh, yeah, unfortunately it just in the end of the day, uh, I got injured and, uh, just made the selection easy, really. But, um, yeah, I mean there's, there's more opportunities next year and the year after that. The year after that. So, um, yeah, just, uh, looking forward to getting back to the level that I was on and hopefully, uh, progressing more.'cause I feel like there's a bit more there to, um, to improve on and, um, hopefully I get selected in the, the next few years.

Speaker:

Yeah,'cause like you said, um, duck has been over there with, more recently with Ferris. He won a Moto on CDR gear taken over there a few years back from memory. Um, so like he's proven that his gear can podium, um, and can win a race over there. So taking everything from your YZ four d, F here and taking videos would be the obvious choice. Um, if you were to be selected in future years, let's just say that next year, you're just clearly the better rider and that motorcycle in Australia do pick simply the best rider to go over from Australia. Um, when was the last time you rode a two 50?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's, that's the hard part. You know, you gotta, um, you gotta probably practice a little bit here on a two 50 and it, it ends up making things a little bit more difficult, but. Who, if you get picked, you're not gonna say, no, I don't wanna do that. Because of a a bike side of things. Um, you're gonna want to go and represent your country no matter what. Um, and in my own opinion, I think it's definitely easier going from a four 50 back to a two 50.'cause you probably just ride it a bit harder and whatever. It'll feel slower than, than what you normally used to. Um. The biggest, the biggest challenge would be going from a two 50 ride to a four 50 if you had to step into a four 50 roll. So I think on that side of things, it's just, it was a lot easier. You don't really have to think about it too much. A two 50 is a bit easier to set up, bit easier to get comfy on, and uh, you just have to learn to rev it a lot more than a four 50. So, um, there's not too many things that you have to adapt to. It's just getting used to riding like a less powerful bike again. Yeah. Um. And yeah, I don't think that'd be, that'd be too crazy.

Speaker:

Okay. So plan is to continue putting your name forward when they ask for nominations, um, in the years to come, obviously. So then tell us what does, how long have you signed with CDR Yamaha for and, um, what's the plan for next year? Motocross and Supercross. You were gonna race Supercross this year as well as motocross too?

Speaker 2:

Yep. So my, my ideal. Was going to, uh, end at the end of this year. But, uh, midway through, I signed another two year deal. Uh, so I'm 26, 27 with CDR, uh, both, uh, motocross and Supercross. So, um, yeah, I'm excited for that. I mean, motocross, same plan. Just want to, I, my goal is to win that. Um, I felt like the last two years I've been pretty much there, but it just hasn't happened, so. Next year and the year after, and I think hopefully for many years, my plan is to, uh, try and get on a roll and win as many as I can. Um, obviously with Supercross I enjoyed it a lot more than what I thought, um, last year racing it. So, um, I'm actually pretty bummed I'm not racing it this year. Uh, I was looking forward to it. And it's just something different for me to switch focus from, uh, obviously like riding motocross, but I've rode motocross since I was a young kid. And then I raced gps where you only race motocross. Um, so it was something that was fresh and I enjoyed doing it. So I was actually looking forward to, uh, improving what I had from last year. Um, but yeah, now I'll, uh, I'll just watch this season out I think. And, uh. Get, get fit and healthy again. And, um, like I said, I see a doctor in a couple days and see when I can get back on the bike. Um, hopefully I can get back on the bike before Supercross is even finished. And, uh, I'll start doing some hours on motocross again and just building the fitness back up and, um, being ready to go before our, um, preseason kicks off and look to just have a, a really strong preseason and. Same, same sort of thing, same goal for, uh, next year and future years to come. It's just always gonna be the same. I think I just go out there and, uh, win some races. When I stepped up to senior racing, uh, the first two years I didn't race Supercross. Mm-hmm. And then I did one year of Supercross. Um, and I, I got injured, uh, before the Supercross preseason, so I actually couldn't like, prepare for Supercross. I got like two weeks in before the season started, and then I just felt like I never picked it up and just kept getting injured. Um. So I, I actually missed the last round of that, that season I think. And, uh, due to injury and the year after I won the motocross championship on a two 50, and then I got selected for Motocross of Nations that year. And I flew to Europe early just to, to ride and get used to everything there. And I ended up breaking my collarbone like a couple days before the, um, the event. Um, and then when I come back, obviously Supercross was on, but I was injured and couldn't ride it. Um, and actually the year after I left to go to Europe, so I pretty much done a half a series when I was running for Serco. Mm-hmm. Back in like 2015, I think that was, so, yeah, it was almost a nine year gap before even like touching a Supercross track or even looking at one, because over in Europe there was not one to be seen pretty much unless you lived in France. Um. So, yeah, like I said, it was just almost completely fresh. Um, but glad I got a good lead up into it and, um, had a good preseason, which I think definitely helped a lot. Um, but yeah, like I said, I enjoyed it a lot, so, uh, yeah, it was good to do just something different.

Speaker:

So tell us then,, having raced MX GP for so many years over there, how hard is it to go from pretty much exclusively racing motocross for the majority of your pro career?, To then having to jump on and figure out Supercross, you know, not when you're 15, 16, 17 for the next five years, like the Americans get the opportunity to do. How hard is it to learn Supercross? Like we've seen, you know, Jorge Prato struggled over in a MA Supercross this year. Let's forget about his motocross season. But just in his Supercross season, he's struggled a bit. Coming from MX GP, he's, he would've had limited time on a Supercross track before turning up in America. How hard is that having raced GPS for so many years to then just turn around and flick a switch on Supercross?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's, it's obviously difficult. Um, the first year I come home, I also didn't raise Supercross on a four 50 either. Uh, I skipped it for, for that one year. And, um, I feel like it's, it's probably easier to adapt here in Australia'cause our tracks aren't as crazy, like AMAs just like the top of the sport in Supercross. So I think even if you'd rode a little bit of Supercross before and then go there, it's still an eye opener. Um, where here. Our tracks are a little bit more mellow. The competition's still really good. Um, and I think like as long as you get a good preseason in and are feeling comfortable to race it, uh, and obviously feeling like you're ready to go, um, that's, that's just what helped me a lot compared to, um, the previous time where I tried to race it. I didn't really feel like I was ready for it. I was just lining up and hoping I'd finish and not crash. Um, where. The riding it on a four 50 for me too was way more enjoyable'cause I'm, I'm a bigger guy. Um, and then on a two 50 I sort of didn't feel confident to hit everything'cause it was just flat out on a two 50 and if you made a slight mistake you weren't getting it. Where I feel like a four fifty's, a little bit more forgiving. Um, um, and s honestly, I probably have to give it up to the bike a lot at four 50 is just. Something else and on a motocross and supercross track. But the guys here had a, a good setup straight away and I felt pretty comfortable. So, uh, I think that also helped a lot. Um, it's just also going straight to it and feeling semi comfortable and sort of, it was hard for me to test and everything like that going through the series.'cause I obviously haven't done Supercross before, so I don't really know what sort of feeling I'm chasing. I'm just, uh, yeah, going with the flow type thing and, um. Um, obviously having Matt, he rode Supercross a lot and, um, he also said the bike was pretty good for Supercross and um, we sort of had a good base to go off. Um, and in the end of the day I think that that helped a lot too. And, um, yeah, I think honestly just having a fresh start on it and like, um, wanting to do really good.'cause I know a lot of people expected me to not be very good at it. Um. Um, I just had the mindset that I wanted to prove a lot of people wrong and, um, show that I can Ride, can ride Supercross. It's, it's not too different. It's as long as you get used to hitting the whoops and, and everything like that, you're still riding a motorbike and it's still based off technique. Um, and I think my technique is good for Supercross and I think I have pretty good technique for motocross, so I, I also think that helps transitioning that. You're sitting in the right places and standing in the right places and, uh, just using your body at the right time for, for that sort of, uh, discipline. Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah, like a transition wise, it wasn't too bad. I didn't have to recreate the wheel and, and go again. It was just do what I was doing, but on a Supercross track. So I think that made it a fair bit easier.

Speaker:

Yeah. Alright, let's talk about your return from MX GP. Why'd you come home? What was, uh, and how long were you in, in Europe for, but what was the motivation to come back to Australia?

Speaker 2:

Uh, I think I was there for like, I think five or six years I did there. Um, the, the age rule, um, like lifted me up to mx GP, so. I think I finished fourth and fifth in the championship on the last two years, two 50. Uh, and then, um, all the factory seats were full pretty much for, uh, for rides for the four 50 class. So I got on a, a, like a satellite team. I had a really good deal. Um, and went to the first round. I think I finished fifth or sixth overall, and like everyone was super happy with that. I was happy with that. It's, um. Um, yeah, I didn't expect myself to do that or whatever, but we had a really good off season. Uh, and then we went to the second race and I went, like, I got outta shape, went off the track and they have like peeps of steel barriers and stuff on the side of the track there for the sponsor banners. Um, I just got off balance and then rode into one, like real hard on, on my shoulder. I had a plate in my collarbone at the time and, um, it like. Pushed the plate like a little bit back. So it was pushing pressure on my shoulder and it probably hurt for like, uh, two or three weeks where I just felt that it wasn't really nice and then all pain went away. Um, but I just had like a really weak feeling in my hand. So I did a few more gps. Um. But I'd, I'd ride for like 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and my hand would start going numb while I was riding and all the strength would go out of it so I wouldn't be able to use my clutch. And, uh, it started to get a bit difficult and,'cause I had no pain, I thought I, I didn't really know what was going on, so I just kept sort of pushing through it and pushing through it. And then, uh, I think midway through the year my dad got, um, oh, my dad got diagnosed with cancer when I was there, probably. I think it was 21, or might have been 20 because I knew that he got sick, but I got stuck there for two years and couldn't go home. Um, and then, so I ended up staying that year and then went home after the season, the, the next season, and obviously knew he was sick and everything. And then halfway through that year he ended up passing away. So I'd flown home and I missed a race. To see him and like say goodbye before he actually passed. Then I come back over and he actually passed at the next race. So I was at the next race and he passed. Um, pretty much after that I was sort of like, not over it, but sort of thinking like the last five years probably hadn't seen dad much. Yeah. Didn't really know what I was doing there. Uh, results weren't the best. I had a bit of an injury, so I think it was just a buildup of things and. And obviously, uh, when you're not getting results there, it's, it's hard to hang around. They just, they want results and, and being someone that's from overseas, it's a little bit harder to like sort of go back for a year and then try again. When you go, when you go out, you don't really get thought of again. Um, so yeah, ended up starting to talk to people back here, um, after that happened and sort of got a deal happening. Actually, I didn't really talk to anyone for a while. I ended up just packing my stuff and coming back to see how it would plan out type thing. And once I got home and word was that I wasn't really going back, then I started getting some phone calls and trying to figure out what I was gonna do. But, um, yeah, I didn't really have a, a reason as such to come back. It was just a snowball of things that was going wrong and just ended up being the case. And once I come back here. Um, I ended up going and getting the plate. Uh, no, actually I went and seen what the problem was with my shoulder and it was just some, um, so it was like a nerve blockage when I'd like raise my arm at, to a certain point it would get no blood flow to my hand. So they called it like thoracic outlet syndrome or something like that. Um. And yeah, it was just a weird one. I rode, I rode that year with Honda and didn't get it fixed.'cause I thought I'd, I'd just get through with it, but had problems that year with it a little bit. And as soon as the, as soon as the motocross season finished, I went and sort of started to get on top of it and then I ended up just getting the plate taken out and it helped it like a lot. So, um, yeah, got that fixed up after 2023 and yeah, sort of. Just went on from there.

Speaker:

So, are you better off as a rider staying in, uh, Europe and. Trying to earn money in Europe or you're better off coming back here and racing here and trying to be on a team here to make money if you're gonna, going somewhere to make a living outta racing motocross satellite Europe or Aussie race team.

Speaker 2:

Um, I'll be honest, I made what I signed on for 80,000 euros that year, which would be probably one 40, like 1 40, 1 30, something like that. So it's like, it's not bad money. Mm. Uh, but while you're there and like living for yourself, you probably don't save that much. Mm. Um, I think now that I probably think about it, it's hard'cause you do 20 rounds of gps, but the, the top guys are like always like solid. They're always in the top five. So for you to make like bonus money there, it's like really difficult. Okay. Okay. So you, you get that base salary, but I think. If I was to do it again, I would go and race like a lot of the, the German championships? Yep. Uh, the, the Dutch championships and probably like British championships and stuff like that because if you do that, they have their own full series where they pay bonus money and, and championship bonus money. So say you're raising gps, um, but then you have like a British series in between. If you're making like 8,000 quid for a bonus and then like 40,000 for a championship, you'd make a lot more money by doing them races.'cause your chances of being able to win races and stuff like that are a lot higher than if you go to a GP level event. Um, and I didn't do that when I was there. I didn't do any racing like outside of GPS or, or anything like that. And most of the teams. They let you do that, that have little teams, like say if you went to another satellite team, they might be based out of Germany. Yep. So they want you to race the German championship. Okay. But then you can also do GPS if you want as well. Okay. They'll, they'll take you to the gps. So, um, I think you could definitely make a lot of money doing that if you were, if you were to do it that way. Um, but like I said, like I never done it, so I wouldn't know like how much you can make. Um. So, yeah, that kind of makes that question hard. I, I make good money here and, um, I'm at the age where I think I should be making good money, so, yeah. Um, if I was still there making 80,000 a year or whatever, I don't, I don't think that I'd be loving it, but at the same time, you have to be, um, you have to be content with what you're doing as well. So, yeah. Um, I think that's just a, a big part of everything, whether. Whether you're there and if I was there and wasn't at the level that I thought I should be at, I don't know. I think it'd be a long drag anyway. So, um, if you're there and, and winning races and performing how you think you should, it's, it's probably a no brainer to be there. And obviously the top guys there make, make a lot more money than what we make here. Um, I think if you're in that top five six area you're making. Quite good money there.

Speaker:

Are we talking about millions, like, like the top guys?

Speaker 2:

Yes, definitely. Definitely. So

Speaker:

sign on plus contingency bonuses. They'll make over a million bucks. Your top five, right? Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2:

So like the guys that would sign on for the most, like geiser and all that we're talking probably multimillions. Yeah. Okay. Um, and then obviously their championship bonuses and stuff would have to be, have to be a million as well. Yeah. So if you. Everything together and had a really good year, there'd be no reason why you couldn't make like three, 4 million euros, which would be big money here. Yeah. Yeah. If you top three, you got Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So, and in, in all, obviously you deserve it when you should, gets that level, you know, like the, the class that I was racing at, I think COI was still racing that year and. And everything like that. So I'm pretty sure there was like nine, nine or like 11 guys that have been like world championed through MX two to MX GP, like it was just a crazy level. It it's fucking, yeah. It's hard to think back now and obviously Yeah, it's just a, it's a different playing field really. Yeah. It's, um, but that's all part of it. Like if you want to be the best, you want to have to go and race the best guys and. Obviously learned from it. And it's a shame that I didn't get to spend more time there on a four 50.'cause I think I'm a, I'm definitely a four 50 guy. Um, and not my, what I struggled with most on a two 50 was starts and always being like mid pack and having to work my way forward all the time. Um, but yeah, it's a, it's part of the game, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Um, obviously that one year that wasn't going real well, just, uh. Yeah. Sort of put everything on the side and super easy to come back home as well. Yeah. You, everything's at home. You know what it's like. It's doesn't take much to go wrong to just Yeah. Go home. So, um, I didn't really have anything that was there that was like holding me there. Mm-hmm. Um, obviously my partner, she was from Australia and come with me over so we could both just also go home. It wasn't like I'd went there and had a partner and then was like, ah, kind of stuck there or anything. So, yeah. Uh, that side of things was super easy and um, yeah, it was just trying the matter of trying to get a good deal back here and, yeah, see how we went.

Speaker:

Yeah. Alright, well thanks Jed for your time today mate. We wish you all the best for your recovery and we can't wait to see you go racing again next year. Especially with Kyle, we think you guys are building such an awesome rivalry. Yeah, and I know you guys are probably mates off the track anyway so, but for us on the sidelines, it's really good to watch and yeah, we hope that next year's MX of Nation's team two, that you're right up there in contention and that, uh, most holding Australia pick. The best and the fastest rider, we have to go over there. So thanks again mate, and we'll speak to you soon. Cheers. Appreciate it.