I got the beat, you got the beat, and he’s got the Beat, as in Ryan Beat.  It is almost the mythical bird Phoenix, like how Ryan takes off huge swaths of time and comes back like he never left with the competitive spirit and speed to race as fast or faster after his layoffs.  This statement was confirmed after Ryan took over two years off, raced one Intermediate race at Barona Oaks, jumped to local Pro races and gave some of the local hot shots fits on his first gate and shows no sign of letting off. 

Ryan discovered his love for moto in the front yard of his folks house, occasionally doing a rather excellent impersonation of a Troy-Bilt roto-tiller, a little panic rev and a fish tail, and viola, the roses disappear.  Figuring he would probably fare better as a moto-cross racer than a gardener, his folks took then five year old Ryan to his first race at Perris Raceway, where he placed fourth.  After that first race Ryan and his folks stayed closer to home, and Barona Oaks became his domain.  Still learning the ropes in his first race at Barona and not quite clear on what to do at the start, his dad while laughing, told him just to gas it when the gate falls and he’s been gassing it ever since.

Initially on a Suzuki 50, he moved to Yamaha PW50 at six years old and soon started finishing on the podium.  Family finances kept the family racing mostly at Barona, but they would venture out to other Southern California tracks, and test his speed at well known series like CMC’s Golden State Nationals, and GFI.  In his first full series run at Barona Ryan was second to Jesse Casillas on the mini track.  Ryan came up with his first big win at a round of the now defunct Mickey Thompson Off Road Series in 1993 and the wins dominoed.  He won at least five Series titles at Barona from 1994 to 1998, a couple of GFI crowns and Golden State victories along the way.

With this type of momentum one would think Ryan’s next step would be the Amateur National circuit, but the choice was made for him to play other sports and work hard at school, which he did maintaining close to an “A” average.  He took a hiatus with his racing from late 1998 at twelve years old to early 2003, roughly four years.  One would surmise that this long of a racing layoff would result in a lack of progression, and other racers of his caliber would leave him in their dust upon his return, not to be.  He did his first two comeback races in early 2003 winning both in the 125 Intermediate class at Barona.  Asked to help with driving duities for buddy who was going to New Mexico to a Loretta Lynn’s qualifier, he decided to race in the “B” class on a whim.  Thinking he was going to be rut fodder, he qualified for the regionals at Glen Helen, missing the cut for Loretta’s by one place.  He was soon besieged by the moto gremlins, making mid-air contact on a Barona jump with another rider breaking a collar bone, three short days after getting cleared to ride he suffered a wrist injury when he unknowingly seat bounced a 450 over a double that had a flat tire and high sided on the landing.  The gremlins had one final fling when he was involved with an accident that could have been a major disaster, while riding at the now closed El Cajon MX Park, he and close friend Billy Laninovich were hitting a quad jump in fourth gear when he went head on with a wrong way rider.  The crash resulted in Ryan folding his Yamaha YZ125 frame in half and breaking his pelvis, his parents had seen enough in the flurry of crashes and pulled the plug on his racing in late 2003.

Going back to his non-moto life Ryan graduated from high school with honors in 2004, he took to racing pit bikes and was winning again, convincing his parents to give him another shot on the big bikes.  He made yet another comeback at Barona in November of 2005 riding in the Intermediate class and winning easily.  Going for the gusto he went Pro at Glen Helen’s Chaparral Pro-Am running well early on he was third overall.  Beat used the 2006 CMC Golden State Nationals as his testing platform to gauge his readiness for the Amateur National “A” class, winning the title in the 125 class, he led early on in several rounds against racers with extensive sponsorships and exotic engine work and suspension systems on his mostly stock Honda CRF250.  Stay tuned, he’s just begun to fight!