Catching up with....Kyle Beaton

Catching up with...Kyle Beaton

Interview and photos by James Lissimore

    Always a crowd favorite, Surrey B.C.'s Kyle Beaton had an outdoor season he'd probably like to forget in 2009. Primed to set the world on fire as a member of the mighty Blackfoot Yamaha team, Beaton watched his season evaporate before it began when he injured his hand in a first turn crash in the first moto of the season at Kamloops. Playing catch up for the rest of the season, he showed a few flashes of his usual speedy self but couldn't quite put it all together. He did win a pair of motos at Sand Del Lee and Walton, respectively to close out the season so all was not lost. On top of that, he bounced back indoors to take the win at the Montreal Supercross in the MX2 class and won another Nex-Trax Canadian Arenacross championship. The Blackfoot team saw enough promise in him to give him another chance for 2010 so "KD Beets" is working hard to reward their vote of confidence with hopefully his first championship. I decided to give him a ring and see how things are progressing with three weeks to go to the first round....

Hey man, so where are you right now?

I'm in Ontario, hanging out and getting some training and riding in here. I'm gonna hit up some of the National tracks, well I guess just Gopher(Dunes) out here and train with Colt a bit.

So you guys just got back from GPF?

Yeah, like four days ago. We spent the first four days installing appliances in his new house so he put me to work(laughs).

Kyle Beaton is looking to remove a digit from his number by the end of this season.

Nice! You know, I never got to talk to you after the last arenacross. Congrats on the championship! I was bummed I couldn't make it with the conflict with the Toronto SX. What did you think of the new venue there in Penticton?

I thought it was really good. It was more of a show, especially for the pros. They did it more towards the pros, which is good and bad I guess. I guess it depends on whether you're trying to get the fans there or try to make it a family event. Well, I guess you're trying to make it a family event either way but do you want it to drag on or not. I thought he(promoter Robin Gibbs) did a really good job, he even had pyrotechnics and did a great opening show. We don't really get to do that at Chilliwack – there just Kawasaki kind of does their own thing cause their the title sponsor.

Yeah, Robin did a great job making it a show. I guess it's partly cause of the building too, at Chilliwack you don't really have the stands and the atmosphere to kind of do that. It's really cold and not as many people like to come out for that. At Penticton it was kind of warm and it drew a lot of people, at that time of year I don't think there's a whole lot to do up there(laughs)

Sweet, it sounds fun. I can't wait to go next year, it sounds like it was a big success.

You've been racing that series now for, well forever. What keeps you coming back every winter?

I don't know, it's local which is a big part. I spend so much time traveling throughout the year that it's nice to be able to race at home and still make really good money. Nex-Trax does a great job of treating us well. They pay us well, winning is good and the money is there. I make probably most of my money from racing while racing that series. It's kind of hard to steer away from that, especially if you don't have any support to go do other races. As far as going to race supercross and stuff like that, it's hard to get a ride down there and it's a lot of money to do it on your own. A lot of people don't realize that. It's difficult, a lot of people look at it from the outside in, “Oh, just go and do it” but it's not that easy. To actually prepare for it and you need to spend quite a bit of money just to be competitive. So, I think a lot of people should jump on it and try it themselves and then let me know their opinion after that.

Beets is "Super Pumped" on his 2010 race bike.

So, other than arenacross, you've pretty much been in Georgia all winter. How has that gone?

It was really good. I think I'm miles ahead compared to last year. I did a lot more stuff throughout the winter, I kept to a pretty strict training program with Drew(Robertson – Beaton's trainer) and worked a bit with Spencer's(Knowles) trainer doing some cross-fit stuff. I got in a lot of riding, we paced ourselves though and didn't go crazy at first. Just worked our way into it so we didn't get burned out. Right now, I've still got some work to do, which is good. I think it will only get better, I don't want to peak too early. The plan is to peak by about round four and be on my game a hundred percent there.

Cool, as someone who's spent their winters in both Southern California and Georgia, what advantages do you feel you get by staying down at GPF versus SoCal?

Everything's just right there. We don't have to drive anywhere, we stay right on the facility and we've got a track that is rough and doesn't get groomed much but it's watered and ready to go. You don't have to waste time driving to a gym or the track, in California it's like a two hour drive to the track with all the traffic and then a two hour drive back. You waste four hours right there when you could be training or doing other things like bike prep or grocery shopping. But, you are out in the middle of nowhere and you definitley have to put your social life on hold which can get hard after a while.

I don't know, I think the advantage of going to California is that there are a lot more tracks to choose from and you can get in more racing. Whereas, in Georgia, you have to drive down to Florida to race which is like a six hour drive to hit some races. I would definitely stick to Georgia, though.

Beaton and Teddy Maier battling at Regina in 2006. Half a decade later and they're still on the same brand bikes and still battling. Who will come out on top in 2010?

Yeah, that makes sense. Plus it's pretty exciting hanging out in the bustling metropolis of Cairo(laughs)

Ha, yeah exactly. There's a whole lot of nothing going on there. The coolest thing I think we did was go to Walmart(laughs)

Nice! Well, you had a pretty up and down season last year. What would you say you learned from that, that you can bring with you to 2010?

Don't let Spencer start in front of me at Kamloops!(laughs) Cause he'll take you down! Ha, no I don't know, I think just being patient and not trying to light the world on fire at the first round. You don't have to actually win every race in order to win the championship. We'll see how it goes, I think I learned quite a bit last year but just didn't get the chance to do it. I got hurt at the first round.

It's got to give you confidence knowing that Blackfoot believed in you enough to bring you back for another season. So, what do you think it's going to take for KD Beets to finally win the championship?

I think things are going well already. We got all our testing done in February and our race bikes are unbelievable! I think just the confidence of the team and everything that comes with it makes my life so much easier. I don't have to worry about anything and that gives you confidence, you just have to show up and swing your leg over the bike and you're ready to go.

Awesome. Well, Kamloops is coming up really quick now, what's your plan now till the first round?

I'm heading to Calgary for a week to work with Drew, going to do some fitness tests and make sure I'm on the right track and then I'll be home on the 23^rd where I'll keep riding a bit but start toning down the workouts and stuff like that and go see the Chiropractor and Massage Therapist and make the body good for the first race.

Awesome, we'll good luck and we'll see you soon!

Alright, thanks man.