Before the MXD class gate dropped at the opening round of the Monster Energy MX Nationals at Broadford last weekend, few people would’ve expected GYTR Yamaha youngster Jed Beaton to claim top step of the podium on his debut appearance in the class.

Every year the development class throws up surprises and the 16-year-old Victorian – who could’ve happily spent 2014 in Juniors – certainly put his best foot forward on the hillside circuit.

Originally from Tasmania, the Beaton family moved to Victoria three years ago for work and to further Jed’s and his older brother Ross’s racing careers. Before the move, the Beatons would regularly catch the ferry across to the Mainland to race, even though Jed admits he wasn’t any great shake on a bike as a grom.

“The Tassie scene was really small and there were only 10 or so riders in a class, so it made sense for us to travel to Victoria as much as we could for racing,” the Churchill-based teenager recounts.

“I got a couple of second-placings and a win on my 85 at the VIC Titles, then at the Aussie Junior Nationals last year at Horsham I won the 125cc class and placed second in the 250F class.”

As a member of the Yamaha Junior Racing development team, Beaton was offered the opportunity to step up to MXD a year early with a ride on the GYTR Yamaha team. It was a big moment for the lad and he put in a tonne of training hours with his brother Ross in the lead-up to the 2014 MX Nationals.

“I really worked on making sure I’d be fit enough to last the full 20 minutes,” he explains. “Ross and I worked hard, and it was awesome to see those results pay off at Broadford. I wasn’t really expecting to win there, to be honest.”

After getting caught in a first-turn crash in the opening moto, Beaton clawed his way from 39th to fifth before the chequered flag, feeling like he was banging bars and eating roost the entire race.

He got a better start in the second moto and fell into second behind Aaron Tanti, who crashed and allowed Beaton past, to settle into a groove and win the race.

In the third moto, Jed grabbed another good start behind Husqvarna rider Egan Masten, who made a few mistakes and allowed him to catch and pass to take the win and stand on top of the day’s rostrum.

“The feeling of having won the overall in my first MXD race didn’t kick in for a while,” he admits. “It kind of felt like another race until afterward. Now I have to worry about the next round this weekend and making sure I stay consistent.”

“With so many different track conditions and surfaces in the championship I think the competition is going to change each round,” he speculates. “Probably my teammate Wilson Todd, Egan Mastin, Jack Simpson and Nathan Crawford will be my main competition.

“And I haven’t ridden with many of those guys as they were always in the older age group in juniors. They all know how to ride, that’s for sure. My aim this year is to be as consistent as possible and stay on the bike.

“I want to play it smart and pick up as many points as I can every race. I know I probably won’t win every race, so I’ll need to put myself in the best position I can when I’m not leading. Consistency is going to be huge.”