Yamaha star Jed Beaton has tightened his grip on the 2026 Penrite ProMX Championship presented by AMX Superstores (ProMX) after yet another clean sweep, this time in Toowoomba on May 24.
Motivated by two years of near misses and heartache, Beaton’s unrelenting form on the Monster Energy CDR Yamaha continued in the Kawasaki MX1 class as he won both 25-minute plus a motos in challenging, heavy conditions at the historic Echo Valley track – the first over teammate Aaron Tanti and the second after a spirited battle with defending champion Kyle Webster (Honda Racing Australia). Nathan Crawford (MotoCoach Racing Team Honda) scored a pair of excellent third places.
With Webster caught up as an innocent victim of a crash at the start of moto one – Dean Ferris (Penrite Racing Empire Kawasaki) and Wilson Todd (Honda Racing Australia) were others to go down – Beaton has now extended his MX1 lead to 40pts (195 to 155) over Webster at the halfway mark in the ProMX Championship.
Not an impregnable margin by any stretch in a discipline where fortunes can turn in the blink of an eye, but the DNF could prove costly for Webster’s defence aspirations by season’s end.
“It was pretty important I had a good day here and keep the momentum in my favour,” Beaton said. “Kyle won the Gillman round, and I didn’t want him to get the win here and build momentum, so I was determined to keep things in my favour.
“The team did a great job with the bike as this track can but a difficult one to get setup right. Not only do they have to keep on top of suspension and chassis with the hills and the ruts, but also because we are a little above sea level, there is also some motor fine-tuning and the team was spot-on today.”
In the other classes at Echo Valley, Alex Larwood (Honda Racing Australia) and Noah Ferguson (Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha) shared wins in Pirelli MX2 as young gun Kayd Kingsford (Honda Racing Australia) claimed the overall honours, Hayden Downie (XLR Yamaha) blitzed the Maxxis MX3 field, and Blake Bohannon (Yamaha) put the exclamation mark on a flawless Fox Racing MX85 campaign.
After Beaton just edged out in Webster and Ferris in MX1 Superpole, anticipation was palpable for a moto one showstopper – but the turn one melee soon put an end to what could have been, with Ferris too battered and bruised to take any further part in the day’s proceedings.
It was Tanti who led early before Beaton asserted his superiority, while Crawford settled into third as the top three cleared out from the pack.
Todd Waters (Raceline Husqvarna), Zachary Watson (KTM Factory Racing) and Luke Zielinski (Yamaha) filled positions 4-6, while Todd rebounded to finish eighth behind Rhys Budd (MotoCoach Elite Racing) and ahead of Jacob Sweet (Yamaha) and Connor Rossandich (KTM).
Still smarting from his premature moto one exit, Webster didn’t let Beaton get comfortable for the duration of moto two – with Crawford also keeping himself in the hunt.
Just when it appeared Webster could muster a late challenge, Beaton responded brilliantly with the fastest lap of the day to put the issue beyond doubt.
Crawford finished on the bumper of Webster, and then it was Tanti ahead of Waters, Watson, Budd, Zielinski, Todd and Levi Rogers (Caloundra Motorcycle Centre Yamaha).
Tanti (146pts) remains third in the standings, pulling clear of Todd (128pts), and then it’s Waters (122pts), Watson (112pts) and Crawford (107pts) – the latter continuing his recovery mission after being a lowly 13th after round one
