Image: Bavo Swijgers.

F&H Racing Kawasaki’s Jed Beaton will make his first steps with the KX250F in the MX2 World Championship when the 2018 season opens at Neuquen, Argentina, this weekend.

Following a number of standout guest appearances last year, Beaton has become a full-time MX2 rider with the Kawasaki Motors Europe-supported F&H Racing team from the Netherlands.

“I’ve felt relaxed leading into 2018 after a nice off-season, so I’m feeling ready to go, just really excited to go racing again and to enter the world championship with Kawasaki and team F&H,” Beaton said. “I started riding again at the beginning of November, went home to Australia for one month and ended up sorting a bike out.

“I had two weeks riding there before I came back to Europe and continue to train and test with the team my KX250F. Concerning my expectations, I just want to see where I’m at, then build and take it from there. You can always have expectations leading up to the season, but you never really know how realistic they are until after the first few rounds.”

Beaton claimed a podium in last year’s final round of the MX2 World Championship with third overall in the French finale, already displaying good form in the 2018 pre-season by picking up a podium finish at the recent Lacapelle-Marival International.