Chad Reed’s aim for a third US Open crown was well on the way to being accomplished in
Las Vegas on the weekend, before a challenge for the final event holeshot – and the
US$250,000 prize money – saw his race plan turned upside-down.
Reed comfortably won the opening night main event, leading from start to finish after
claiming the holeshot.
His superpole win earlier in the evening meant he had satisfied all three criteria for the
night in order to go on and challenge for the major prize the next day.
“I learned a lot in my heat race,” Reed explained. “I pushed my way through the first
turn and that made the race easy for me. The holeshot is very important, and I worked
hard to get up there.”
Saturday night was the turning point for the Australian, who went down in a three-rider
battle for the progressive holeshot. Out of rhythm and well down on the lead riders, Reed
forced his way through the field, but crashed again on separate occasions. He finished
8th in the main event.
“I was going for the holeshot and went down,” said Reed. “Timmy (Ferry) had a bad night
last … we race with a lot of emotion and things happen,” he said.
At the conclusion of the event, Reed’s initial dominance saw him tied with fellow Yamaha
rider Grant Langston on points. Langston was awarded the US Open win on count back,
having finished second in the Friday night main event.
And while the result was slightly disappointing for Reed considering his early dominance,
he was pleased to be able to go out and take charge of the event first up and was
looking forward to the rapidly-approaching AMA Supercross season. “This has been my
first indoor Supercross for some time, and second is a great result. “The win was
definitely on the cards if it had not been for the first corner crash, which gives me good
confidence as I prepare for the 2008 season that begins in the first week of January”.
mcnnews.com.au - pic from supercrossonline.com