Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1484691
being fast. The days in which a rider, like Rainey, could go from the national championship and move straight into the big time are long, long gone—indeed Beau- bier (28) and Rainey (27) were within one year of each other (in age) when they made the move to Europe, both for a second time (Rainey in 250GP in 1984 and Beaubier in 125GP in 2009) more than 30 years apart. INTERVIEW I MOTO2 RACER: CAMERON BEAUBIER P80 them around, even make a little mistake and still save yourself with how much power they have out of the corner. With Moto2 you have to be so precise. Obviously, you're pushing, but you have to be very gentle with the bike. You don't make the time up going into the corner. You make it com- ing out. I built a lot of bad habits on the superbike going into the Moto2 bike." Beaubier's primary objective for taking the American Racing Team ride was as a springboard to MotoGP, which, if success- ful would have made Wayne Rainey's dream of raising a rider through MotoAmerica to the big time complete. But modern international racing is as much about right time, right place, right age, right passport, as it is about "The whole reason that I wanted to take this gamble was to get into MotoGP," Beaubier says. "I came over here and I was 28 last year. I was hoping the results were going to be a little bit better, and I wanted to see if the MotoGP dream was still a reality. I wanted to do good enough in Moto2 to get an op- portunity in MotoGP. "But, once I came over here and I'm in it, first of all, you see how gnarly those guys [MotoGP] are, how insanely talented they are. I'm not saying I'm not [that talented] or anyone in Moto2 isn't or even at home in America. It's what they go through on a daily basis, each session, it's so hard to describe. "They're on the absolute limit on 300-horsepower bikes. They toss them down the road, sprint through the gravel trap to hop on the spare bike, and sometimes do it again. It's gnarly. All the MotoGP teams are picking that young 20s guy coming up, and can you blame them? Look at (Left) At the behest of Hopkins, legendary crew chief Stuart Shenton was drafted in to help Beaubier a quarter of the way through 2021. (Right) How it started: A baby-faced Beaubier during his 2009 125cc GP season as teammate to Marc Marquez. "IT'S BEEN A SUPER COOL EXPERIENCE. OBVIOUSLY I'D BE HAPPY IF MY RESULTS WERE A LITTLE BIT BETTER, BUT ON MY DAY, I SHOWED I CAN RUN UP FRONT."