Jed Beaton entered the weekend with an impressive 64 point lead and in his current 2026 form, he was odds on to claim the championship with a round to spare with a solid performance at Conondale.
Beaton looked good in the morning sessions, but there had to be a few nerves floating around as the last time Beaton won an Australian championship was 2016. The maths was simple, to win it in race one, he needed to have a 75-point margin, to claim victory in race two, he needed to have a 50-point gap. He hadn’t finished outside the top three in the series so far, but Beaton knows more than anyone how things can change in a heartbeat.
In 2024, Beaton and his rival, Kyle Webster, took it all the way down to the final race that saw the duo tied on points at the end of the series, but the championship went to Webster due to more round wins that year.
In 2025, Beaton had cleared out to a 29 point lead after six rounds and was the in form rider of the class at the time. But tragedy struck when he had a training fall leading into round seven that saw him break his femur and be sidelined for 14 weeks.
But, there was going to be no stopping him in 2026. Beaton fired out of the blocks at the start of the season and only dropped one round through the first six to have a commanding lead coming into round seven.
He finished the weekend in fourth with 3-4 results to take fourth for the round and missed the podium for the first time this year. But it mattered little as he rode back to the podium and was instantly met by his Monster Energy CDR Yamaha team and the champaign began to flow.
Beaton is your 2026 MX1 Championship.
“The last few years have been tough and we have taken a few hits, but I think that it just makes the win this year so much more rewarding,” Beaton offers from the podium. “We put a plan together while I was injured last year, put in a huge off season to get myself back on track and we were able to execute it to get the championship win.
“A huge thanks to the Monster Energy CDR Yamaha team for standing behind me and the massive effort everyone puts in on the team to make race days so much easier. Allot of my happiness is for them as I knew how gutted everyone was last year when I broke my leg.
“I also want to thank my brother Ross for everything he does, my fiancé Holly for all her support and my Mum for being here to cheer me on. The only thing that would have made it better was to have Dad here, but I know he is smiling up there somewhere,” Beaton says with emotion.
And while Beaton took the lions share of the glory, the riding and improvement in Aaron Tanti this year can’t be underestimated. This time last year, Tanti was just back from a broken neck, barely making the top 10 and wondering if he would ever get back to the level he was once at.
Fast forward 12 months and Tanti is standing on top of the podium in the MX1 class at a ProMX round and in a fit for second place in the championship. Tanti finished the day with 2-2 results to grab an emotional one point round victory. He was in a position to win the final moto of the day, but a late race mistake allowed Kyle Webster by, but Tanti is back and the next goal is to continue to form surge into the final round at QMP next week.
“Firstly, congratulations to Jed on his championship win. He has been a great teammate, and I can see the work and effort he puts in so well done for him to finally get the championship and I couldn’t be happier for him.
“My day was good and its awesome to be back winning rounds again. It’s been a long haul back and at times seemed so far away but pumped to finally get back up the front.
“I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get the final moto win. I did all the hard work to get to the front and then could get it done at the end, but I have to long at the day in a positive manner and now it’s down to the final round to secure second place in the championship and make it a team 1-2,” Tanti ends.
