Aaron Tanti claimed his first ProMX round victory since 2023 with an emotional victory at round seven of the ProMX while Jed Beaton secured the 2026 ProMX Australian Motocross Championship in a sensational day’s racing at Conondale in Queensland.
A capacity crowd, filled the lush grass paddocks of Green Park for round seven of the 2026 championship and it proved to be a successful day for Yamaha in more ways than one, with Tanti and Lachlan Turner winning their respective classes and Jed Beaton filled added the MX1 ProMX championship to his resume.Monster Energy CDR Yamaha
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.
Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha
Lachlan Turner continued on her winning ways with another clean sweep over the weekend to win the round and move closer to securing the 2026 WMX championship. Turner took an instant liking to the Conondale circuit and scorched the opposition in qualifying with a lap time four seconds faster than her nearest rivals.
When the gates fell for the opening Women’s moto, Turner slotted into second place but took a few laps to find her way past Taylah McCutcheon before motoring off into the distance and take her fifth race win on the trot to extend her lead in the WMX championship to over 30 points.
Race two and Turner charged to the lead early and was breaking away from the field, when she mis judged a left hand turn and went down. She remounted and rejoined the race back in fifth place and was nearly 10 seconds from the race lead. She went to work and began to claw back the time.
With two laps to go, she was able to put a pass on Charli Cannon to take the lead and hold it all the way to the finish in a stirring race that had the large crowd on the fences.
“I need to stop with those little crashes,” Turner giggles post-race. “I can’t keep doing them, but they seem to fire me up and get my riding better.
“This weekend was so good as I haven’t seen a crowd this big in Australian motocross and so many people came up to say hello and were so supportive of me. The track was sick and so good to ride and then even when we did the podium, there was so many people there.
“The team did a great job again and I can’t thank them enough for making my family and I feel so welcome,” she states.
Souya Nakajima racked up another personal best with an eighth place round finish. Nakajima finished with 8-10 results for eighth overall and better his previous best result by one position.
But Nakajima was inside the top 10 all day. He qualified well, got good starts and tried to run the lead pace for as long as he could. It was a good outing and a great learning curve for the Japanese rider who is finding his feet late in the series.
“Today was my best result, but I still want more and there are many things I can improve. My starts were good, but I just need to find some more speed early in the race when the intensity is on and everyone is really pushing.
“But happy with my riding and my progress and thanks to Masa and the team for helping me,” Nakajima said.
It was a challenging day for Noah Ferguson who again had moments of excellence as well as moments of disappointment. He started the day well with P4 in qualifying but was right on the pace and looked like he would be a factor in the days results.
But that was put on the back foot early in race one when he fell while inside the top six. He pushed the front into a soft berm and went down, losing several positions. But he picked himself up and got going just inside the top 20 and then motored his way all the way back to sixth and only a bike length away from the top five in a gritty performance.
Then race two was all but over before it began. As the field charged for the first turn, Ferguson collided with another rider and went down heavily and was trapped under the bike. He was finally freed and able to get back into the race but a long way behind the pack and with a twisted bike.
He chipped away but couldn’t get back into the points and finished the day with 6-22 results and not sits sixth in the MX2 championship.
“Not the round I was wanting and just disappointed in how things went. I felt pretty good in practice but just didn’t get the results I’m capable of.
“We have another round to go and its time to get things right and get a result I can be happy with,” he said.
Monster Energy WBR Yamaha
Hayden Draper has led the MX3 championship since round two, but the last few rounds have seen him leak points to the stage where things were getting tense. He needed a round to stop the flow and allow him some points up his sleeve for the final round.
Despite falling ill on race day and clearly being unwell, Draper was able to dig deep and stem the flow somewhat. It wasn’t a round win for the Kiwi, but he was able to finish fourth on the day with his 6-3 results and only lose 2 points for the round to his nearest rival, Heath Fisher.
Draper now has a 20-point lead going into the final round but will need the week to recover and be ready to go for the last round at QMP.
“Just before race one, I started to feel pretty ordinary with low energy, head aches and just being sick. I did the best I could in the first one and then basically had something to eat and drink before sleeping between the motos.
“The second race was better, but I’m hammered now. I feel pretty ran down, so I just need to take this week to rest up and make sure I’m back to full heath for next weekend,” Draper explains. ,
It wasn’t a good day for teammate, Jack Deveson. Deveson fell heavily from his bike during race one and retuned back to the WBR Yamaha transporter in clear pain but thinking he may have sustained some rib damage.
The RACESAFE medical crew were call in and found he was in considerable pain and immediately called for a medical helicopter. He was air lifted to hospital where the early diagnosis shows a ruptured spleen and some kidney damage.
We wish Jack a quick and full recovery and will provide an update as we have more information.
It was also a tough day for MX2 rider, Seth Burchell. Burchell was unable to find the comfort he was after on the fast and flowing Conondale circuit and eventually finished 12trh for the round but holds down seventh in the championship.
The eighth and final round of the 2026 championship is at Queensland Moto Park, this weekend. The fast turn around will have riders and teams in for a busy week as the final round will be contested over two days with on track action starting next Saturday.
