Interview With Cameron Beaubier0

After an impressive two seasons in the Red Bull Rookies Cup, the soon to be seventeen-year-old was given the dream opportunity to enter the 125cc World Championship with the Red Bull KTM factory team. Pairing up alongside young rising star Marc Marquez, Cameron had a challenging road ahead of him. On top of all the new pressures of racing in the premier championship against the best riders in the world, Cameron also had the added pressure of being the only American in the sub categories of MotoGP. Despite his share of bad luck, a broken wrist, and a handful of crashes, Cameron managed to score his first World Championship points and managed to make his way up to twelfth place in the final round at Valencia, before crashing out on the last lap. We got the opportunity speak with the talented sixteen-year-old about his first season in the World Championship.

After a few DNF’s but also your first World Championship points and some impressive opening lap performances, how would you sum up your first season in the 125cc Grand Prix World Championship?
I feel that i had a few good showings but nothing like i wanted to have. But over all this season was a good experience for me, racing the fastest guys and learning all the tracks.

You grew up racing mini’s on Kart tracks with SMRRC. How important was your background in mini-racing to getting you onto the world stage? How much did racing on kart tracks prepare you for racing on world class race tracks?
Racing minis out at Stockton and doing supermoto and things like that is what made me so competitive. Especially supermoto, racing guys like Joey Pascarella and Garrett Willis and other fast guys like that really helped me push myself.

Being the number 2 rider on the factory Red Bull KTM team, how different is your bike from your teammate Marc Marquez? Why do you think KTM has struggled against the Aprilias?
My bike was pretty similar to Marc’s. He has a different front end than me but thats pretty much it. Our riding styles are way different too so the bike setup was always different. The Aprilias have so many years of experience behind them. There bike is more rigid than the KTM that makes it a little better in the corners. But my engine has been pretty fast all year so i cant really complain too much. KTM is a good bike.

Everyone always talks about how important setup is in Moto GP. How vital is setup for the 125cc Grand Prix bikes? Is it impossible to be competitive if you’re bike is not constantly developing throughout the season?
Setup definitely plays a big part in the race weekends. You always have to pay attention to what the bike is doing in the practices so you can get the best out of it in qualifying and the race.

What are your plans for next season?
I want to get on an Aprilia in the world championship again. Ive been talking to a few teams over there to see whats going to happen. If not I want to come home and race 600′s.

Coming from the relatively small National scene in the US, then competing in the European Rookies Cup, how much greater is the competition you are facing in Grand Prix’s and what are the most important things that you have learned during your first season in Grand Prix?
Just racing the Rookies Cup two years ago was a wake up call for me. Everyone is really fast and has a lot of experience. A lot more experience at least on a roadracer than someone in the US. Racing over there for three years i learned a lot more about racing in general. Motorcycles are a way bigger deal over in Europe.

Everyone is saying that the Moto2 class will be the great equalizer where regardless of equipment, the true talent will rise to the top. Do you think that the new Moto2 class will be as equal as people are saying or do you think that there will still be a big difference between the factory riders and the privateer teams?
Im pretty curious to see how it all plays out too. Some of the bikes look really trick. Im not really sure how equal they will be really. Walking around the paddock they have some on display and some of the chassis look completely different from each other.

Do you think it’s possible for a rider to succeed in GP’s without having the major factory support like the teams Aspar and Derbi?
Ya for sure. Look at Marc he is in the top 3 almost every race he just crashes a lot lol. But also Mika Kallio in the past. He won a few races on the KTM.

How important are results toward receiving new parts for the development of the bike? If the results don’t come, does development of the bike stop?
Not necessarily, Your team wants you to do the best you possibly can. So they’re going to do the most they can for you.

Where can we expect to see you in the next 5 years?
Hopefully still in the World Championship!

Photo Credit : http://www.myspace.com/ilovetaylorforevernalways