Reed second in closely fought Phoenix Supercross battle -ozzy go- mcnews.com.au

Australia’s Chad Reed is now tied on championship points with
nemesis James Stewart, after the duo fought out a sensational
Main Event at the second round of the 2008 AMA Supercross, an
FIM World Championship, at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Reed once again won his heat race convincingly and a good start
in the Main Event saw him round the first turn in third place.

The Yamaha star moved into second place on the opening lap
before claiming the lead on lap two. An uncharacteristic mistake
by Reed allowed Stewart to regain the position a few turns later.
Reed then hounded the race leader for the next 10 laps before
the pair caught the first of the slower riders and embarked on
lapping almost half of the field.

Whilst Stewart enjoyed a clean pass through the backmarkers,
Reed was cut off, giving Stewart some breathing space. Once
through, Reed put his YZ450F to good use, setting his fastest lap
of the race on lap 19 and looked likely to catch Stewart.

After racing neck-and-neck for the 20-lap race, Reed finished a
mere second behind Stewart, with the pair finishing nearly 30
seconds in front of the third placed rider.

The event clearly confirmed what many had predicted – The 2008
season will be a Reed versus Stewart battle with the rest of the
field racing for 3rd place.

“It was a typical Phoenix track; slick and dry.” said Reed. “It was
a good race, and I had fun out there battling with James tonight,”

“I’m happy that I was able to keep James honest out there for the
whole 20 laps of the main event. I knew he would make a
comeback from his bad start last week”.

“Our speed tonight showed James that he is going to have to fight
hard to retain the title this year. The fans are sure to see some
great racing over the next 17 rounds.” Reed added.

Reed and his L&M/San Manual/Yamaha team will now prepare for
Round 3 of the Championship which heads back to Anaheim’s
Angel Stadium on Saturday 19th January. mcnews.com.au
pics from tedescophoto.com