Reed charges to AUS-X Open victory

Australia’s greatest supercross rider Chad Reed charged to victory in the inaugural AUS-X Open at the Allphones Arena in Sydney on November 28 in front of 15,000 screaming fans.

Doubling as round five of the 2015 Australian Supercross Championship, Reed put on a racing clinic in his cameo appearance — much to the delight of his hometown fans who enjoyed their first taste of indoor supercross racing in over a decade.

“I’m super pumped to win here in front of the home crowd at the AUS-X Open in Sydney,” said Reed. "To see all these fans here at Allphones Arena going absolutely nuts all night is massive for Supercross in Australia and I can’t thank everyone enough for getting behind the AUS-X Open."

The Yamaha-mounted Reed defeated American Gavin Faith (Honda) and championship leader Daniel Reardon (Yamaha) in the 20-lap SX1 final, followed by Cooper Webb (Yamaha) and Daniel McCoy (Yamaha). Defending Australian supercross champion Matt Moss (Suzuki) failed to finish.

With one round to go, Reardon now leads the championship on 167pts from Kade Mosig (Yamaha, 136), Moss (127), Lawson Bopping (124) and McCoy (118).

In SX2, American Jimmy Decotis won his fourth final in five rounds and now leads the championship by 31pts (172 to 141) over Jackson Richardson. Gerald Stapleton (132pts) is third, with the top three all Honda mounted.

Meanwhile, the coveted Monster Energy ‘Best Trick’ award went to Australia’s Jackson Strong for his one-handed front flip, edging out Japan’s Taka Higashino and countryman Rob Adelberg.

Racing also continued on Sunday afternoon, with 20-year-old Webb defeating Reed and Bopping in SX1, Decotis doing the business in SX2 and Strong the 'best trick' winner from Frenchman Tom Pages and Japan’s Taka Higashino.

And the nostalgic showdown between Reed and Ricky Carmichael was reignited, with the Aussie the winner again in their three-lap head-to-head battle.

“It was an exciting weekend and you couldn't have asked it to turn out any better than the way it did, especially considering the circumstances and the whirlwind the AUS-X Open went through with people dropping out at the last minute, so it was a really fantastic event,” said Carmichael. “The fans were fabulous and personally they gave me an incredible welcoming and I’m thankful for the opportunity and hope to be back here in Sydney again.”

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY RESULTS

The sixth and final round of the 2015 Australian Supercross Championship will be held at Knights Stadium in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine North on Saturday, December 5. To purchase tickets, click here.