VOL. 50 ISSUE 49 DECEMBER 10, 2013
P67
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREA WILSON
W
JD Beach moves
on up to factory
ride in 2014.
hen it was announced in the fall of 2006
who made the cut for the first year of the
MotoGP Red Bull Rookies, there were two
Americans in that chosen group that had already
caught the eye of race watchers in the U.S. as having a lot of potential – Cameron Beaubier and JD
Beach. Both were having some success overseas,
with Beach's coming a little bit later as he struggled
most of his first season. But it was also his first
season ever on a road racer.
The youngster from Washington grew up racing
dirt track, which was natural since his father was a
dirt tracker. Then with the growing popularity of Supermoto he got a taste of the asphalt - racing dirt
track on Saturdays and Supermoto on Sundays.
And like many of the past American World Champions who cut their teeth dirt track racing, it didn't
take the young Beach long to take to road racing.
After his first year of struggling in the Rookies Cup,
he found success the following year with six podiums, a win at Sachsenring, and the championship–
beating Luis Salom by four points for the crown.
After that Beach returned to the states and his
roots – splitting his time between racing dirt track
and competing in the East division of the AMA Supersport series. He had success in both, winning
four races in 2010 as a part-time dirt tracker in the
Pro Singles class and the AMA East Supersport
Championship.
Road racing at its zenith would have fast tracked
a kid like this into a factory ride, but unfortunately
the economy and the health of the AMA Superbike
Series delayed that a bit.
But as the saying goes, good things come to
those who wait. And for JD Beach toughing out the
