Interview and photos by James Lissimore

Future West’s Arenacross series has produced a lot of fast indoor talent on the west coast over the years. The series provides a venue where up-and-coming riders can hone their skills (and get out of the rain). This year has been a graduation of sorts, as the top riders have moved on to try their hand at the pinnacle of indoor racing: AMA Supercross. Ryan Lockhart, Darcy Lange and Colton Facciotti were all in Anaheim this past weekend. Dusty Klatt was in Georgia preparing for his own assault on SX and Brady Sheren was at home nursing a case of mono. That left Kyle Beaton to dominate last weekend’s round of the West Coast Arenacross Championships. We caught up with him to find out about his own plans to head south and what he’s doing in the coming months.

James Lissimore photo

RXC: Congratulations on the clean sweep this weekend. I know the competition wasn’t as stiff as usual but it must be a confidence builder to go out there and rack up four straight wins.
Kyle Beaton: Yeah, it was good. I just went out there and had some fun, made some money; that’s basically why I was out here. I need to make some money before I go down to California because I’m sure I’ll be spending quite a bit down there.

You looked like you had the track pretty dialed. It seemed like there were a lot of crashes this weekend, particularly in the whoops but you didn’t have any problems yourself. What did you think of the track overall?
It was all right; it was pretty easy though. I mean, there wasn’t really anything technical out there; it was more of an 80 track, a beginner track. It was fun though.

You mentioned going down to California, what are your plans? Right now you’re currently in school, right?
Yeah, I’m just finishing up Grade 12. I did this apprenticeship program where it got me sixteen credits so I was able to graduate a semester early. My last test is on February 8th and then I’ll be heading down to California a week after that.

So you’re going to be living down there?
Yes, I’ll be living with Dean Wilson and his family. They’ve offered to take me in untill June basically and help me train and prepare for the nationals.

Are you planning on doing any supercross while you are down there?
No, I haven’t had any time on Supercross tracks. When I get down there, there won’t be too many rounds left and it’s a lot of money to get an AMA license. We’ll just save it until next year when I don’t have to worry about school and I can just train and test on a Supercross track everyday.

James Lissimore photo

Okay, so moving on to the Canadian Nationals. Do you already have a deal signed for this season?
Yeah, I’ll be with Yamaha again. They’ve been pretty good to me so I’m sticking with them. I’m pretty sure that Morgan Racing is going to take over as the factory team so Yamaha is going to give them a budget and they’ll run the factory team.

This year with the absence of Dusty Klatt you have to be considered one of the favorites for the title. Is there any added pressure coming into the season?
No, I think if anything there is no pressure. I’ve never really had pressure put on me and I’ll just go out there and do my best.

Great, so is there anyone you want to thank for helping you out?
I’d like to thank Yamaha of course. Ed from Clearbrook Yamaha, he’s been behind me for a few years now and if it wasn’t for him I probably wouldn’t be where I am today, Rob from M2R helmets, Ogio, Enzo, Oakley, Shift, and all the fans out there.

Thanks for your time, Kyle
No problem.