Well the winter months are finally over and the 2017 season is here. Scott’s preparation has been perfect and we are now on route to round 1 of the 4X ProTour being held in Roquebrune, France.

Coming into this season as UCI World Number 1, Scott is looking for consistency to work towards the overall 4X ProTour title.

The track in France was a bitter sweet pill to swallow for Scott last year as a mistake whilst leading cost him a shot at the race win. He is looking for a solid start to his campaign this year.

With some fresh sponsors on board for the 2017 campaign the team are motivated and ready to race.

Arriving on Wednesday afternoon, we went to look at the track. Located at the heart of the new Azur Bike Park, what has been created is amazing. Built on the side of a mountain, the track winds its way through huge berms, multi lines, and some of the biggest jumps in the 4X ProTour into the finish arena. There were several changes to the track, with more width on the first two straights, fresh berms added and a new section into the tree line.

The track in Roquebrune overlooks the French Riviera coastal town of St Maxime, so as well as being an amazing track, the views are incredible. The longest track currently used on the 4X ProTour this year, at around 50 seconds this was going to be a wild race.

On Wednesday evening, we headed over to St Maxime BMX track for their club night. After a full day of driving to the South of France, a trip to one of Scott’s favorite BMX tracks to unwind was perfect. The track is amazing and together with team photographer Charles Robertson, Scott had a play on the track and we got some great shots.

Thursday was the first official day of training at the 4X track. After a track walk, it was time to get started. Working on the top half of the track initially Scott worked on set up and looked at home straight away. The track was in immaculate condition and allowed the riders to really push hard. The racing was certainly going to be quick come race time.

In the afternoon we were lucky enough to have a couple of hours where we were able to visit Monaco to have a look round. The formula 1 track was just being built with grandstands and the pit lane garages all under construction. Quite a sight!

On to Friday training and Scott focused on the bottom half of the track and his tyre choice for the weekend. Another 3 hours of track time and confidence was building nicely into the weekend. In the afternoon we visited St Tropez for a quick walk around some super yachts!

Saturday morning and it was game time. After a two hour practice session it was qualifying. In the two hours Scott simply did full runs to prepare for the one lap of qualifying. Using all the outside lines and carrying speed we were looking for a top 3 and the first points of the year.

With Scott being the UCI World number 1 4X rider, he went last. With only one rider going below 45 seconds, the job was simple. Get a 44 point something and he would be in the top two. With a perfect qualifying lap, that’s exactly what Scott did. Stopping the clock at 44.89 it was good enough for second position.

On Saturday night, the organisers hosted a BBQ for all the riders. It was great to socialise with everyone and catch up on what everyone had been doing over winter. An early night for the team to get ready for race day.

Sunday morning and there was a two hour practice session. With no track changes, Scott did a couple of practice starts then two full runs and with over an hour remaining, he decided to save his energy for the racing.

At 14.00 the racing started. Scott took the win in his first two rounds and was looking fast, backing up his qualifying ride. In the quarter final, he made a perfect start and again led the race from start to finish with no problems. Onto the semi final and this looked tougher. Scott again made a perfect start and battled bar to bar into turn one defending and holding his line to lead the race. From here Scott pulled away and took a convincing win.

Final time. Scott was in gate two. Making a good gate Scott again went bar to bar with both riders either side of him and unfortunately this time he got squeezed into turn 1. Re grouping and starting the charge from fourth, Scott rode hard all the way down the track and dived inside on the final turn but unfortunately he could not get the bike turned enough to make the pass stick.

Fourth position for Scott and some good points to start his 2017 4X ProTour campaign. Scott really felt like this was the race that got away though and is now heading home to continue his preparation for the next round at Winterberg, Germany on May 26^th.

We want to thank all the team sponsors for helping us put together an amazing package that is allowing Scott to ride at his absolute maximum.

Until next time.

We are delighted to announce that Scott Beaumont and the USN Racing team have just signed a contract with Fuchs Silkolene that will see the team using Fuchs Silkolene lubricants and cleaning products for the 2017 race season.

Scott Beaumont said:

“Attracting the attention of a Worldwide company like Fuchs Silkolene and adding them to our partners for 2017 is something that we are extremely proud of at USN Racing.

We only want to work with the best products, so when Fuchs Silkolene approached us it was a ‘no brainer’ and within a very short meeting the deal was agreed.

We look forward to working with Fuchs Silkolene for many years to come.”

Joost Van Genderen, head of motorcycle at Fuch Silkolene commented:

“For us at FUCHS SILKOLENE we are extremely pleased and proud to be able to work with Scott for the 2017 season.

Scott will represent our brand at the very highest level and we are sure increase the profile of our SILKOLENE CYCLE range to a whole new audience across the world.”

More information:

To find out more about Scott and his plans for 2017, check out these links:

www.beaumontracing.com
www.facebook.com/beaumontracing
www.twitter.com/beaumontracing
www.instagram.com/beaumontracing

To find out more about Fuchs Silkolene, follow these links:

www.silkolene.com
www.facebook.com/fuchslubricantsuk
www.twitter.com/fuchslube_uk

Happy New Year everyone.

We hope you have had a great festive season.

All going well here as we get ready for the 2017 season. The year has already got off to a great start as we ended 2017 as UCI World Ranked Number 1, which is great and has given not just Scott but the whole team a nice boost through the winter months.

Scott is hard at work in the gym and on his bike as we prepare for the race season.

See you all trackside in 2017.

Last weekend we travelled down to the South of France for the final round of the 2016 4X ProTour which was held in the town of Roquebrune. Overlooking the fabulous French Mediterranean coastline, the views from the track were incredible. Blue skies met up with blue seas all broken up by a few multi million euro boats sailing around! It was a picturesque end to the 2016 4X ProTour and this new track was certainly a welcome addition to the ProTour.

We arrived on Thursday and headed straight to the track to take a look. It was incredible. Created on the hillside, as we drove to the venue we could see just how much work had gone into this track. Sculptured into the hill it looked great. We walked the track and were stunned at just how steep, rocky and loose it was. It truly was a ProTour track and I couldn’t wait to get riding. As we walked further down onto the last straight, we found a huge step down.It was 45 feet and 20 feet vertical drop! Intimidating but the run in would give you plenty of speed.

Official practice did not start until Friday, so after the long drive I wanted to turn my legs and have a play on the bikes. We drove just 10 minutes to one of my favorite BMX tracks in the world – St Maxime. We had a great session there, taking a few photos and loosening up.

Practice:

On Friday we started practice. The track was super loose and after talking to the organisers we found out why! There had not been any rain in this area since May! It was dry and dusty which made a welcome change! The track was tough. The steepness meant that the corners were going to be vital. It was a case of braking hard then slamming the turns. We spent 2 hours working on the track, then practice was over.

After practice we had an afternoon free. What bester way to spend it than a sightseeing tour of Monaco! There just happened to be the annual Yacht show on that afternoon so we spent a few hours checking out multi million euro yachts!

Qualifying:

Saturday rolled around and it was the next practice session and qualifying. As Current UCI world number 1 I was very happy to be riding with the number 1 plate!

Practice went well and I felt like I was riding good. The qualification run was at 15.05. After some USN re fuelling, we were ready.

The qualification run went ok. To be honest, on the bike it felt good, but at the finish, the time was just a bit slow. I qualified 10th, my worst qualifying of the year, but after looking at the split times, I knew where I had made mistakes. With another practice session on Sunday we knew what we had to work on.

Race Day:

So race day rolled around and it was for the final time in 2016. I had a couple of goals. Currently I was sat in 4th overall in the 4X ProTour. I wanted to hold on to that position. I couldn’t move forward but I could slip to 7th. I was also leading the 2016 UCI World Rankings. I wanted to go into winter holding on to both of these positions.

My draw looked good. I was happy with the races and knew I could make it to the final. I worked on my mistakes from qualifying and went into the race extremely confident. Lining up in my first heat against riders who qualified 7th, 23rd and 26th. I had 2nd gate pick and went for gate 2. The beeps went and I fired out of the gate in the lead. Moving over in turn 1 to protect the inside I started to pull away. Heading into the penultimate turn, I slipped in the turn a little and dabbed a foot. Immediately after the turn was a sequence of double jumps and rollers before the huge step down. I didn’t have time to get my foot in the pedal and headed down the straight with one foot unclipped. Trying my best to get the foot in, a big gust of side wind put me off balance and I hit the brakes. There was no way I was going to take off that huge jump in a cross wind with one foot unclipped. At this moment the 3 guys behind me all flew past me as I rode around the drop off. At this moment I also felt the rear tyre was flat. It was a catalogue of problems that unfortunately meant that I was out in the first round of racing.

I finished 26th – my worst ever result and I think you can see in the image above just how gutted I was as I rolled across the finish line. In fact gutted doesn’t even come close to how I felt. As the racing continued though, the results started to look like it may go my way though. When all was done and dusted, somehow, I had been able to hang on to 4th overall in the 2016 4X ProTour. From the dissapointment earlier this was a bit of a pick up.

At the end of the racing we had the overall podiums. Tomas Slavik taking the win, Felix Beckeman 2nd, Quentin Derbier in 3rd, me 4th and Simon Waldburger in 5th. Quentin was not present as he is recovering from an injury.

So that was it for the 2016 4X ProTour. I would like to thank all of the team sponsors for their support. We could not do this without your help. The fans who support all the 4X athletes in what we do and the organisers for creating tracks that continue to challenge us.

A small break now for me then straight back into 2017 preparation. Updates soon.

Cheers,

All photos by Charles Robertson

At the 2016 4X World Championships, the UCI and Go Pro asked Scott Beaumont to film a lap of the track for the official course preview. Check it out here: