In a 250 class that has spent all of 2026 refusing to make sense — a points leader with nine laps led, a chaos merchant charging from the back every week — Julien Beaumer has quietly been the third man in the title conversation. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider from Lake Havasu City, Arizona sits third in the championship with 268 points through eight rounds, 25 back of the red plate with three rounds to run.
The résumé is real: an overall win earlier this summer, a tie for fourth-most laps led in the class, and week-in, week-out front-of-the-pack starts on the factory 250 SX-F. Washougal was the setback — collected in the turn-one pileup of moto one alongside Levi Kitchen, he salvaged an 8-5 day for sixth overall and kept the gap survivable.
Third in points, an overall win in the bank, and nothing to lose over the final three rounds. That's a dangerous combination.
— 2026 Pro Motocross · Through Round 8The KTM Bet
Beaumer is the centerpiece of Red Bull KTM's 250 program — the rider the Austrian factory has backed as its answer to the Star Yamaha and Honda HRC pipelines. Still one of the youngest riders on a factory 250, he's already shown supercross speed and now a maturing outdoor game. The 2026 season is the one where "prospect" stopped being the right word.
The Run-In
Twenty-five points in three rounds is a long shot, not a lost cause — especially in a class where the two riders ahead of him have alternated between brilliance and disaster all year. If Kitchen's starts stay buried and Davies has one more Millville-style hiccup, Beaumer is the rider positioned to profit. Either way, he leaves 2026 as a title-fight regular, not a fringe player.
✦ Julien Beaumer — 2026 At A Glance
- Red Bull KTM Factory Racing · 250 SX-F
- Lake Havasu City, Arizona
- 3rd in 250MX championship · 268 points
- 2026 overall winner
- Tied 4th-most laps led in the 250 class
- Second-fastest qualifier at Washougal
- Three rounds remaining in 2026