Reed Wins US Open SX

Reed scores opening night victory at Rockstar Energy
Drink U.S. Open

Yamaha’s Chad Reed won the opening night of the Rockstar
Energy Drink U.S. Open inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena,
leading all 20 laps in the main event.

Reed jumped out to an early lead, winning the Progressive
Holeshot Award, part two of the Trifecta bonus program. Following
Reed was Yamaha’s Grant Langston and Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry.

On lap 4 Honda’s Andrew Short worked his way into the third
place position. Langston finished second and Short finished third.

“I learned a lot in my heat race,” said Reed. “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. I
am looking forward to tomorrow night. I came here to win, and
that is my plan," Reed said.

Reed captured all three components of the Trifecta bonus
program tonight, earning the superpole, the Progressive Holeshot
and the main event. Reed can win $250,000 if he repeats
tonight’s performance tomorrow.

Australia's Daniel Reardon, who was making his debut for the
Sobe/No Fear/Samsung Honda outfit had a good night during
practice and qualifying proving he had the speed to be with the
contenders. Unfortunately a bad start saw him have to fight
through the field from 14th on the tight Las Vegas track, he
eventually made it up to a respectable 7th place.

Michael Byrne made it three Aussies in the top ten with 9th
overall.

Honda’s Mike LaRocco, winner of the ’02 U.S. Open, captured
the Alpinestars Rematch race, beating Kawasaki’s Jeff Emig
(’99 champion) and Damon Huffman (’98 champion) respectively.
fullnoise.com.au - pics from vitalmx.com