How Davi Millsaps Is Taking Beaumer and Ryder D to the Next Level

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There was a time when Davi Millsaps was in the same shoes as Julien Beaumer and Ryder DiFrancesco. The hype around his pro debut in 2004 was insane. Millsaps was tagged as the next great superstar. The next multi-time title winner. The next McGrath. Okay, maybe not the next McGrath, but you get the point.

Trained by his mom Colleen, who owns and operates the Millsaps Training Facility and serves as the pioneer of training facilities, Davi had immediate success, finishing second at Daytona in just his third ever pro race.

While Davi didn’t reach the heights that some put upon him, he had a fantastic career that included a 125SX East Region title and two-runner up championship finishes in 450SX (2012 and 2013), before a terrible concussion leading up to the 2018 season ended his career.

Now, like his mom before him, Davi is a trainer. For the past two years, he’s helped JuJu go from unknown jet skier to factory KTM. This year, he’s helping Ryder D get back to the level he enjoyed as an amateur.

On the PulpMX Show Monday, Millsaps talked about working with JuJu and Ryder D, who finished second and fourth at the season opener in Anaheim. Regarding Beaumer, he spoke at length on how he needed to know he belonged up front and to translate his test track speed to the race.

“He wanted to be one the fastest, he wanted to be a contender, he wanted to show himself,” he said. “He’s known for a year and a half that everyone has been talking about how fast he’s been in practice and he can’t relate the practice to the race. He can’t bring it there and I think that was a lot of doubt and just overthinking every single time he was at the races. He wouldn’t get out of his own head.”

He added: “It took a good learning year for him to understand where he belongs and what needs to happen and I think that’s what you saw on Saturday night.”

Ryder D, like Millsaps, was a HUGE prospect coming out of the amateur ranks. He was right there alongside Haiden Deegan as the “next” in line. After an okay rookie season in 2024, Ryder D has put on 15 pounds of muscle, according to the NBC broadcast on Saturday, and is now training with Davi.

“I was pumped to bring him on [Ryder D],” Millsaps said. “One, for Julien and him to battle together and two, try and find and pull out that Ryder D that everyone has known his whole career. Just to see if you can approach him a different way and learn him and see what’s it about. It was definitely a challenge but it was something I was beyond willing to accept and take on.”

Are the second year pros primed to break through with the help of Millsaps? We shall see, but they have already taken a step in the right direction after one round.

Check out the full interview on Pulp below:

Images: @octopi.media