Reed claims maiden AMA 450 MX victory

Chad Reed has powered to his first overall win in AMA motocross since 2002, and his first-ever in the blue-chip 450cc, at High Point Raceway in Pennsylvania.

He won both races by 4.4secs from Honda's Andrew Short, and is now 19pts (161 to 142) clear in the championship from injured Suzuki teammate Mike Alessi.

"It feels good to get my first overall motocross win, but to be truthful, I feel like I should have been here a long time ago," said Reed. "And it's fitting that my last win was a 1-1 here in 2002. Today we came back for my first 450 class win here.

"We made some changes to the Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z450 today, and I've been feeling pretty comfortable on the bike, though I'm still not 100 percent.

"I'm just doing the best I can to go out and put my best foot forward for the fans."

Michael Byrne (Suzuki) was the next best Aussie with 4-5 finishes, while New Zealander Cody Cooper went 5-6 on his Yamaha.

Dan Reardon (Honda), the 2007 Australian open class motocross championship, was a lowly 29th in the opener before sitting out the rest of the day. A face well known to Australian fans, New Zealander Luke Burkhart, was 22nd on his Honda in race one.

In the 250cc class, Australian Brett Metcalfe (Honda) went 19-7, and is seventh overall on 111pts. Christophe Pourcel (Kawasaki) and Ryan Dungey (Suzuki) are dominating the quarter-litre battle.

There is now a two-week break before round five in Colorado on June 27-28.

For full results and standings, click here.