Professional rider JD Beach is joining Estenson Racing for the 2019 season. Beach was the champion in the MotoAmerica Supersport road racing series and will now be racing in the American Flat Track dirt racing series.
Beach, who lives in Philpot, will be joining the team’s core members – two-time Grand National Champion Jake Johnson and 2017 AFT Singles Champion Kolby Carlile – to provide a three-pronged threat in the AFT Twins class in 2019. This expansion means Estenson Racing is more than doubling its race effort in American Flat Track in just its third full season in the series.
In addition to his two MotoAmerica Supersport titles, Beach is the winningest rider in the series’ class and has additional road race accolades on his resume, both in the U.S. and at the world level. In 2008, Beach was the first American to win the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and in 2010, he won an AMA Pro Supersport title, which was considered the premier U.S. championship for up-and-coming road racers.
Although 2019 marks the first time Beach will be racing full-time in flat track, he has strong dirt track roots and has shown that, even though his focus has been on road racing in his professional career, it has not dulled his flat track skills.
In just his first Twins race since 2013, he scored a podium finish at the 2017 season finale at the Perris Half-Mile and then backed it up with a second-place finish at the 2018 season opener at the Daytona TT.
Beach said he looks forward to joining the team in 2019 and riding the Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 for an entire season.
“I’m really excited,” Beach said. “This is going to be the first time that I’ve ever done a full season in dirt track, so to compete at every AFT round will be great. And, to have a chance to ride for a team like Estenson Racing is great. It’s been a team that has grown a lot, and they have won races and a championship already.”
He said racing the new Yamaha Twin in dirt track is going to be fun, but it will be a challenge, too. Still, he’s ready to get started.
“This will the first time that I’ll actually get to test the bike and stuff and get some time on it before I go racing, which will be nice,” Beach said. “I think we’re going to be ready when the season starts, and it will be fun to see how I do when I can stay on the same bike throughout the year.”
