Reed fifth in opening AMA bout
The Aussie shows impressive form for his new team, while Ryan Villopoto made short work of the field to draw first bloodAustralia’s Chad Reed (Honda) has finished a respectable fifth in the opening round of the 2011 AMA Supercross Championship at Anaheim in California, in what was the first hitout for his fledgling team.
The race was won by Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto ahead of defending champion Ryan Dungey (Suzuki) and James Stewart (Yamaha).
“Overall it was a positive night,” Reed said. “Being a brand new team we needed to go racing to see where we were at with not only our bike but also our structure and how we do things.
“It all ran well and went relatively smoothly. We have a few tweaks to do here and there but we definitely 100 percent achieved our objectives that we set going into the race.
“A podium result would have been an absolute fairy tale but it wasn’t something I had in my mind and wasn’t realistic given the short space of time we had to put the team together.
“Top five from the back of the pack is a good solid result and although I feel the fittest I have ever been and we have done a lot of laps in testing, it has been a while since I my last AMA Supercross race so I need to sharpen up my racecraft in a few areas,” Reed explained.
“I am absolutely pumped. It took a lot of hours from a lot of people to get here tonight and although the result doesn’t show it to many, I think we deserve an A-plus. The best is yet to come.”
Villopoto was the star of Anaheim, nearly going wire-to-wire for his 10th career win in the class.
“This is a nice way to start out the season,” said Villopoto. “Starting out this way makes things much easier. I hope I can start putting together some more wins and a championship this year.”
South Aussie Brett Metcalfe (Suzuki) finished eighth, while rookie Tye Simmonds (KTM) just missed out on nailing a spot in the final after finishing third in the last chance qualifier.
In the Lites class, Kawasaki dominated the podium, with Josh Hansen the victor from Broc Tickle and Tyla Rattray. Ryan Marmont (KTM) was fourteenth.
The second round of the championship will be held at Phoenix Chase Field on Saturday, January 15.
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