Reed steals the show
Avoids mass carnage, and then soarsAustralia's Chad Reed (Suzuki) miraculously avoided a mass Turn One pile-up caused by his arch-rival James Stewart (Yamaha) to win the Daytona round of the AMA Supercross Championship on March 7.
Although Reed was impeded by the carnage and was shuffled back to 10th place -- fortune that did not shine on fellow Australian Michael Byrne (Suzuki), who went down and was forced to retire -- he did manage to keep his Suzuki upright and then started his stirring run through the pack and chasing down runaway leader Jason Lawrence (Yamaha).
That mission was successful as he moved into the lead on lap 17, eventually winning with consummate ease. Suzuki's Davi Millsaps completed the podium after only getting into the final via the last chance qualifier, while Stewart was seventh..
It was Reed's third career win at the Daytona International Speedway, and completed a great double for Australia after Mathew Mladin's victory in the season-opening AMA Superbike race at the famed venue.
"I had the win taken away from me last year so it feels especially good to win here tonight," Reed said. "The start tonight was insane, I was almost at the bottom of that pileup when Stewart went down, and I felt lucky to make it through turn one clean. It was a tough track to pass on so I had to be patient and pick my moments carefully."
"With seven rounds to go I really feel like we have got the momentum going again and both the team and I are ready to fight hard."
Daniel McCoy (Honda) was 13th in the last chance qualifier, which ended his evening,
Reed now sits 11pts (224 to 213) clear of Stewart as the championship prepares to head to New Orleans Louisiana Superdome for the 11th round next weekend. Honda's Andrew Short is third on 163pts, from Ryan Villopoto (Kawasaki, 153), and Ivan Tedesco (Honda, 140).
In the Lites class, which didn't feature any Aussies, Christophe Pourcel (Kawasaki) replicated Reed's six-second winning margin, with Martin Davalos (KTM) just getting the better of Nico Izzi (Suzuki) for second.
For full Daytona results and standings, click here.
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