Interview: Edward Heather of Cult Moto

After it was announced that Chance Hymas had sustained a wrist injury at the SMX finale in Ridgedale, Team USA once again had an obstacle to overcome to fill the MXGP seat for this year’s Motocross of Nations. They called upon Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Julien Beaumer, who had a breakthrough Pro Motocross campaign that saw him claim four podiums, including two overall wins.

“Tough circumstances. Saturday I got the call, hey you’re going to race Nations on a 450, you got to fly out on Tuesday” he told Cult Moto. “I said alright, let’s do it. I put about an hour on the bike leading into the week, I didn’t get to ride the bike in France before, straight to practice on Saturday, quali race, and then yeah, today, so it’s been a whirlwind of a week. Overall I think it would have been a little bit easier if I was on a more US style track, this track was fucking brutal, like fuck, I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.”

Despite the tough circumstances, having to race a 450 in the MXGP class and experience Europe for the first time in his life, JuJu had nothing but high praise for his time in France, a forgotten aspect of his young career to many European fans. Beaumer suffered a burst fracture to his L3 vertebrae at the first SMX playoff round in 2025, which left his future up in the air.

“Bucket list moment, I mean for me a year ago I laid in a hospital bed not knowing if I’d race again and to be here this weekend was just incredible. Moto 1 I sat on the gate and I was just like wow, I’ve never been so nervous in my life, it was incredible. And then Moto 2 like for the smoke bombs on the sight lap, you can’t see where you’re going. I’m literally just going through smoke, I was like this is fucking epic. I feel like maybe in America we need to implement them. We need to implement a lot of shit.”

Beaumer finished 10-17 in the races to help Team USA secure fifth overall in the Nations classification, and JuJu had nothing but positive comments about his experience. He openly admitted that if they ever need him again in the future, he will step up for the nation.

“The most epic race I’ve ever been to in my fucking life. A hundred percent. No matter what. I don’t care if I’m fucking, I haven’t ridden all year and they need someone. I’m saying fucking yes. Even in Assen next year. I’m saying yes, no matter what. I don’t care.”

The full interview can be watched below, along with the link to the full podcast from Ernée.

Image: JP Acevedo