A podium result highlighted Jed Beaton’s first Penrite ProMX Championship gate-drop since returning from MXGP after the Boost Mobile Honda Racing rider landed third overall at Appin.

Prior to the opening round at Wonthaggi being cancelled, 25-year-old Beaton marked his arrival back on the national stage by qualifying fastest in the MX1 top 10 shootout.

Two weeks later at the second round on Sunday, Beaton narrowly missed out on first gate-pick and was just 0.250s from top qualifier Dean Ferris (Brisbane Motorcycles Yamaha). Completing lap one of the opening moto in P9, he charged up to fourth at the New South Wales venue and ultimately missed out on a podium position by 1.919s.

A third and then a second in the two-part second moto saw the number 14 classified P2 in the final moto once the Olympic scores were tallied, concluding the round just five points from overall winner and red-plate holder Aaron Tanti (CDR Yamaha Monster Energy).

“Had a good weekend at Appin, obviously this is first round scoring points and all-in-all, it was a good weekend,” Beaton commented post-race. “It started off pretty average, I struggled a lot in the first moto and then in the back-to-backs, I tried to ride a solid race.

“I had two good starts and then pretty much brought it home for third overall, I think five points off the lead they were saying and yeah, looking forward to round three.”

Round three of the eight-round 2023 Penrite ProMX Championship takes place on 16 April at Wodonga, Victoria, as Beaton sits third in the MX1 standings with 40 points behind Tanti and Ferris, who are level on 45.