In Australia a country so vast that your next-door neighbours can live a thousand miles away, it isn’t surprising that there is a great divide between the city’s boys and the country boys, at least it was like that when I was a kid, and I am pretty sure it hasn’t changed.

Coming from a city, you felt like you had it made, everything at your disposal, while the country boys felt the same, as they enjoyed the amazing nature of one of the most beautiful countries in the World. The cities boys might have a PlayStation, and satellite television, the country boys a motorbike and enough land to ride for hours without seeing another person.

Now, when we talk country boys, we are not talking of somebody who lives five, 10 or 15 kilometres from a major city, we are talking sometimes 100’s of kilometres from what you call civilization (the comfort and convenience of modern life, regarded as available only in towns and cities).

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna rider Jed Beaton has come as far away from the grind of Grand Prix motocross as anyone could imagine. When we hear stories of the tough road to the top that Antonio Cairoli had to endure, then the route to Grand Prix motocross by Beaton makes it look like Cairoli grew up with a direct route to the sport.

Beaton, who is coming off the best year of his motocross career is working as hard as ever to reach the very top in the MX2 class in 2021, but without putting pressure on himself, he will again do it the same way he has done his whole career so far, in fact his whole life, and quietly and confidently he will have one eye on that World championship number one plate.

At the very bottom of this interview is a very cool interview with Gypsy Tales on Beaton's amazing youth.

MXLarge: Was this your first winter in Europe?

Beaton: No, I have stayed before. This is probably my third year staying. I have done four years in GP and the first year I came in March, so I missed winter.

MXLarge: How has this one been with lockdown happening in most parts of Europe?

Beaton: It hasn’t been too bad. The team went on holidays for Christmas so in that period we pretty much just chilled out. I have been following my off-bike training still. It has been cold but not unbearable. Just doing my training and then coming inside and chilling out, not much else you can do really. Everything is closed.

MXlarge: Do you have hobbies outside your sport, something else to keep you busy?

Beaton: I built an old push-bike and that kept me busy for a while. Now I am just playing PlayStation and reading a few books. Other than that, not much more.

MXlarge: I was speaking to Rasmus (Jorgensen) and he mentioned how you have a nice girlfriend and your circle of people is really a nice nice. How important is it to have that good private life and good people around you?

Beaton: For sure it is good for me, a lot more relaxing having somebody around to talk to and a big difference from being in an apartment by yourself on the other side of the World. Especially when it is somebody from the same area you are from, so it is easy to speak normal and have fun, the same sense of humour and things like that. On that side of things, it makes everything easier. My girlfriend helps out a lot, so I can concentrate on my preparation. I do my training come home and she has lunch cooked up and we sit down and have it together and it isn’t like I am alone and have 100 things to do. It makes it a lot less stressful.

MXLarge: You are coming off your best season yet, so can you go to another level again in 2021?

Beaton: Obviously for this year, the goal is to go out and do my best and a lot of it comes from the winter and last season I had a good winter and hopefully we can make more steps and fight for the top positions. I just take it day by day and make little steps and little adjustments. I am keen to go racing again, because it has been a long break, and I took time off after the season because it was a long one. I am keen to get back into it and excited.

MXlarge: I watched the podcast on Gypsy Tales about where you are from, I think living with no water or electricity and it is amazing to think that you are now a Grand Prix racer and living on the other side of the World. It really shows where you came from.

Beaton: 100%, and you don’t think about it until you are sitting in your apartment and are a bit bored, or you see an old photo, but yes for sure I don’t take anything for granted. The way we grew up there was cool in a way, because we didn’t have anything else but bikes. We lived on a big piece of land and it was inland and really in the bush, so we didn’t have people complaining. When we got bored my brother and I just rode all day, and we were not glued to a TV or an iPad or anything like that. To be honest, growing up like that, it helped me when I moved here. A lot of people said it would be a struggle moving here and at the start it was, but I think growing up like that helped me get through it better than it might be for others coming here.

MXLarge: It sounded like a great childhood to be honest. I am a pretty basic person and like to enjoy the simplest things in life and it sounds like you had that. To go from that to the pressure of Grand Prix motocross, man, I think it must have been a lot more fun back then.

Beaton: To be honest, my family never pushed me a day in my life to ride motocross bikes. We would get a helmet and maybe some gear for Christmas and that would be what we would wear for the whole year. Never got a new set and we would run on the same tyres and my Dad would even cut new edges into the old tyres to try and make them last longer and save some money. We got sponsored by a local petrol station and they would give us a 44-gallon drum of fuel and that would last us three or four weeks. That was the good old days, but like I said, my parents never pushed me, and it was only when I was like 15 my brother got stuck into me and said if I wanted to do it as a job, I needed to take it more seriously. At the right time my brother started to push me and get me in the right frame of mind to do a good job. Obviously, I got the opportunity to ride for Carglass Honda that year in the EMX250 championship and it went up from there. I tried to make the best of that situation and I was rewarded from it. A bit different from way back then to now, but I try and enjoy every day as it comes and there is a lot of pressure, but I am doing what I love, and I wake up every day with a big smile and I enjoy it as much as I can. It isn’t a long career.

MXLarge: You made that big jump in 2020, and you didn’t get injured, and I think everyone’s goal is to be World champion, or at least top three, but that brings pressure. You mentioned you just want to come in and do your best. Is that goal of being World champion at the back of your mind even for this year?

Beaton: Yes, I guess so. You don’t go out and train and put your whole life into it to not want that goal. Of course, it is there, but to achieve that goal you have to do the best you can every day and you really put your whole life into it. It is always a goal, but you need an injury free year and consistent and good results and the maximum way to achieve that is have a smile on your face and enjoy it, even in the shitty times. Don’t get caught in a dip. I don’t like to talk about the future, because you don’t know what it brings, but hopefully at the end of the year, we are somewhere battling for it.

MXLarge: The calendar looks pretty nice. I remember you telling me you like the travelling to other countries. How do you see the calendar?

Beaton: I haven’t looked too much at the calendar because I know it will change a lot before the season starts. I play it by ear at the moment and I am sure a lot will change. I am not sure how much better the COVID-19 19 situation will get, and maybe we don’t get as many fly-aways. I miss the fly-aways and I would like to see it as it is. They managed it the best they could, and they will probably have to do something like that this year, but we need to wait it out and see what happens. I just hope we don’t do the three races at one venue again. I think two is maximum, unless they do something like at Lommel, but riding the same track in one week gets a bit old. If they change it every time it is nice.