Reed all set for new chapter

Australia’s Chad Reed will enter unchartered territory this weekend, pulling up to the start gates at Anaheim’s Angel Stadium in the USA as a team owner and lead racer.

Second on the all-time supercross win list, the Kurri-Kurri born and raised star has enjoyed considerable success in the sport as a factory-supported rider, but in 2011 has opted to go it alone with his own outfit, TwoTwo Motorsports aboard Honda machinery.

Reed’s seismic shift in circumstances has created an enormous amount of buzz ahead of the most eagerly-awaited supercross campaign in years.

‘My team, my choices’ is the catch-cry of Reed, who has assembled a small yet committed staff to contest the championship which will be fought out over 17 rounds across North America.

The champion in 2004 and 2008 has relished the various off-season challenges and said he felt a sense of pride in fielding an entry under his own team’s banner.

“We’ve faced a very busy few months but to the credit of all involved we’re well and truly ready for A1 [Anaheim] this weekend and the season that lies ahead,” said Reed.

“It will be a special moment to ride out on a bike that our team has engineered from the ground up; as a rider I’ve never had the ability to make the choices that I have with the TwoTwo Motorsports Honda. Our test sessions in the lead-up have been productive and the team has worked tirelessly to factor in my feedback. I now have a bike I feel very comfortable on,” added Reed.

The traditional season-opener in California has yielded solid results for Reed in the past.

In his most recent championship year, 2008, Reed won the season opener at Anaheim, and then proceeded to sweep the following two events at the same stadium.

The venue also holds significance as the site of his first ever AMA supercross win.

Other Aussies racing full-time in the premier 450cc class include South Australian Brett Metcalfe (Suzuki) and rookie Tye Simmonds (KTM), while Dan Reardon (KTM) will compete in the opening few rounds before returning home to compete in the Aussie domestic season. Well, that was going to be the case, but we’ve just heard Reardon will sit out Anaheim 1 after a practice crash.

Metcalfe’s team-mate in the factory Suzuki team is defending 450cc supercross champion Ryan Dungey, while other big guns will include James Stewart (Yamaha), Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki), Davi Millsaps (Honda), Trey Canard (Honda), Josh Grant (Honda) and Andrew Short (KTM).

Villopoto captured the most wins in 2010 during a season-long battle with Dungey which ended prematurely with a frightening crash in St. Louis. After being forced to sit off a bike for nearly five months, Villopoto is determined to take care of what he considers to be unfinished business against a foe he is all too familiar with.