Bench Racing Ammo: Another High Point?
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 | 10:15 AM
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PrintThe prognosticators kept going with the same line. “The best bike finally has the best rider,” they would say, pointing to Chad Reed’s assault on the 2002 AMA 125 National Championship. Reed was armed with the potent Yamaha YZ250F, while his competitors were racing 125s. He was coming off of a second-place finish in the 2001 250 GPs in Europe, and a dominant performance in the ‘02 125 East Supercross tour. Other riders would be strong—like the 2001 125 title combatants Grant Langston and Mike Brown, and rookie James Stewart—but the combination of Reed’s talent and experience on that fast four-stroke looked to be unbeatable.
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Reed looked unbeatable early in the 2002 season.
Photo: Simon Cudby
But Bubba had been underestimated. He promptly won the first two races of the season (his first two AMA Nationals ever) before the tour rolled into High Point Raceway for round three. There, Stewart twisted his knee in practice, slowing his pace in the races. Reed struck, taking the High Point overall win. Finally, the “best rider on the best bike” philosophy was looking correct, and Reed was set up to take more wins and quite possibly a championship.
He never won again.
Stewart dominated the rest of the season on his KX125. Clearly, he was the best rider that year, better than anyone could ever expect a 16-year-old to be. And Reed, despite all his success in supercross, could not get onto the winner’s step of the podium outdoors again. Not in 2003 in the 250 class on a YZ250 two-stroke, not on the YZ450F four-stroke, not anywhere, and not against Ricky Carmichael or Stewart.
By 2007, Reed bid motocross farewell, taking a supercross-only ride and sitting out the next two seasons (besides a cameo appearance at Budds Creek in ’07 to prepare for the Motocross of Nations). It sure looked like Reed, amazingly, was going to end his career with exactly one AMA National Motocross win.
It was a shocker when Reed pulled up to the starting gate at the 2009 AMA Motocross opener in Glen Helen. He was, again, scheduled to race only supercross for his new team, Suzuki, but had so much fun riding for them indoors that he decided to give outdoors another shot. He was behind a bit on testing through the first few rounds, but by High Point, he was ready again. And he won, again, a whopping eight years after his last win.
Reed celebrating his 2009 oudoor title.
Photo: Simon Cudby
Since that High Point race in 2009, Reed has proven himself outdoors. He won the 2009 Championship and currently leads the 2011 standings on his TwoTwo Motorsports Bel-Ray Racing Honda. But High Point will always be a pivotal race for Reed. He came into last year’s race holding the series’ lead as well, only to have front brake problems in one race, suffer from bad starts, and finish the day 18th overall with 13-33 moto scores.
It has been a strange ten-year journey between Reed’s first outdoor triumph and his latest surge. He will go for his third career win at High Point this weekend, trying to prove again that he is the best rider on the best bike.
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Interesting perspective. Really cool to see his journey outdoors.
I always felt he was a weak champ in 09, but so far this year he is the man, Right there with RD, Even wore RD down and pulled away twice!!
On another note, JS was UNREAL back then!! Crazy Crazy fast and that 125!! 1 moto shy of 24-0 one season.
2009 MX was a yawn of a season after Round 3 once RV and Alessi were out....
You can't compare last years outdoor run of Reeds to this years. Reed is in a much better place this year then he was last year. He had no time on the Kawi, got hurt in SX and never got any seat time on the Kawi and went straight into outdoors with no prep. He's a totally different person this year and way more prepared. I want to see him get this title to shut up all the naysayers yet again.
stewart is still crazy fast now, its just that everyone else is too!!
Whoever wins the 450 outdoor title this year will be the "fastest man on the planet." Even with James out it doesn't matter. He would not walk away with this title if he was racing. It doesn't matter who's racing right now or who is hurt. This will be a legitimate title. Just like Ryan's was last year. He was clearly the fastest guy last year....hands down. My own opinion, of course.
I think a Championship run still stands the test of time no matter who was there. As an example, we have Dungey's 2010 season. With all the (supposedly) heavy hitters out, Dungey had a near-perfect season but, I think he would have had that run no matter who showed up. Preperation, skill, training and luck among a slew of other intangibles must all line up for a Championship winning run like that. Even RC & JS's 24-0 runs had to have a percentage of luck for those planets to align.
My point is, I think this just might be Chad Reed's year for another MX title. Say what you will, the guy was right there for the SX title and came into MX with as little prep as anyone, and is doing quite well for anybody who hasn't noticed.
I do think Mike Alessi is going to come back and win some races, as well as possibly RD, RV and maybe even Canard but, Title-wise, it's going to be tough to unseat the Aussie from the driver's seat.
It was cool to see Stewart DESTROY all the 4-Strokes on his KX125 in Summer of 2004. 2 Strokes brrrr..
@AD19 - your information is incorrect. Reed returned from his broken hand at 2010 Daytona SX if you recall, rode practice (had fastest lap i beleive) but pulled out cause he " was not ready" to go 20 laps.....Stewart did the same thing at Undadilla after his wrist injury and has been rediqueled ever since.....Reed pretty much sat out the rest of the 2010 SX prepping for MX ....so no seat time on the Kawasaki doesnt apply here.....things just didnt work out for him at Kawasaki and his attitude obviously affected his riding....we are seeing now that was the case as he is obviously in a better frame of mind and on a better bike.....
There is a whole lot of racing in front of us still. Too early for any serious predictions......
Ironically, we heard in the SX series when RV was incontrol of the points at the halfway point, Reed and his fans were making sarcastic comments like " I guess RV is winning the title, so we should cancel the rest of the races" .... Now some of the Reed folks are claiming he is going to win and we are only at round 2....just a little ironic....racing has just begun...long way to go....cant wait unitl saturday.....beers pool and moto!!
I disagree about unseating the Aussie. Without the luck of RD's gas issue, it’s not likely that the CR champ talk would be present. However, this type of media hype is what makes for more exciting race days.
Because of talk like this, I hope the overall is RD, RV, & CR this week. I'd like to see RD shut down the pack like moto two last week, have RV show some relevance, and CR just a few clicks off the pace. And just so all four Japanese manufactures are in the top four, see Ricky D on the Yamaha earn fourth.
Lot's of racing to go. Interesting folks are really discounting any serious run from RV.
I for one still believe. He is RC like in his desire to win and does not crack under pressure. He will figure it out the suspension issues and put in some epic rides.
@Open Class 100% agree with ya there my man.. They'll see. Canard didn't start winning untill half way through last year and still got the job done, all be it with a little luck, but every champion has gotta have luck on there side, a rider is nothing without it. And as much as I respect the hell outta Reed and what he's done the last couple years (I gotta admit I couldn't stand the dude during the RC years, but only because I was RC through and through) I just can't see him goin 24 moto's without some bad luck somewhere.. Saying that though I'd much rather the 22 gets the job done over RD5.
RD1 sorry lol, not next year though!
I think Chad has figured out what Emig did back in the day and KW is doing and that is do not over train. Your mental state of mind is the most important, confidence, comfortable and having fun. Everyone trains hard, if one rider bikes 30 miles a day and you do 35 miles you should beat them... not. Chad has great line choices which saves him energy on controling the bike and he is having fun. You can be old (as it were) in our sport and still win.
damn haters! Reed has always been great outdoors, he beat everybody all the time except RC & BUBBA and those two were on a different level outdoors. I dont think that discredits Reed at all, cause he was the only one that at least had a fighting chance against those two. NOBODY else could even dream of doing that. Now RC is out and Bubba is no longer the FMOTP, he is a lost cause to his own ego.
I for one hope Reed does win this title with RD & RV coming full tilt. Then all the luvvas/haters can EAFD! funny thing is, if Reed does win this title he will have for SX-MX 450 class titles than JS7.......
Hey Weg I thought in02 reed had a bad shoulder that was popping out.If memery serves me right he had a big lead in a moto at southwick and his shoulder popped out.I could be wrong but thats how I remember it.
Alot of people doubt Reeds riding ability, its either because they are HUGE fans of Stewie, or they dont like him because he has a dont care what anybody else thinks attitude. Either way, if they know anything about moto they would see he is and always has been a very good rider. Nobody beat the GOAT, and they were never going too. And Reed took one from Stewie in Supercross this year, he is very talented and is working his tail off. He will never get respect from the Stewtards, but I dont think he cares.
I like Reed & think he is riding well but we've yet to see him get a bad start & have to come through the pack - when he does that (a couple times) I'll say he's got all the peices.
I have slowly become a bit of a Reed fan. Partly because I don't hate on ANY of the pro's and I like his I'm gonna have fun with it attitude. it's refreshing. Plus the dude is tryin hard ,you can see it. BUT..... when the RV2 haybale exploding berm removal machine fires up everyone will have a problem and I also don't see RD layin down..the dude is tough.....should be gooooood. Hurry back Canard and Grant (for his 2 races) and Brayton & Alessi and also Shortys 450.(KTM the 350 is a great bike blah blah ....450 please.) don't make us go all Denzel on you....
My favorite part of 2002 Nationals? Unadilla. This is where the Stewart/Reed battle started in my opinion. JS259 pulling over to let CR103 by, then passing him back and pulling away from CR103. Mind games anyone? haha
Some of you guys crack me up. A "weak" champ? I don't consider anyone who won a 12 race series to be "weak". All that means to me is that the toughest, most prepared, and yes "luckiest", (because luck does play a part), man won the title. Just my .02.
Ryan Dungeys 2010 plates are of no importance. Stewart went 24-0 against the same people. Dungey isnt as fast when there are people faster competitors besides Andrew Short.
Stewarts 24-0 was of no importance either then because he didn't do that until Carmichael retired after his 2 perfect seasons.
RV !!! time to shine my friend and show these guys they'll need more than luck to beat the FF3 (Flying Feckle #3)....I have to agree with the hype comment....I dont think I have seen anyone hyped up this much for winning two races, one of which was at the hands of a gift or luck or whatever you want to call boiling gas......Reed is a great rider, anyone who thinks he "sucks" are plain silly, although Reed did say the outdoors are not his "thing" in the past, but they are when he wins ironically.....All these guys haul the mail, no doubt about it......
"With the battle heating up for the 125 National title, the last thing anyone wants to see, is another rider’s hopes dashed due to an injury. Top contender, Chad Reed, had his season flash before his eyes last week at Southwick, when his shoulder unexpectedly popped out of it’s socket as he was coming into the whoop section. With pain being at an excruciating level, the Australian had to throw in the towel, and pull his Yamaha YZ250F to the side of the sandy Southwick track. Much to everyone’s surprise, Reed showed up on the line for the second moto. It looks like it’s going to take a lot more than a dislocated shoulder to keep this Aussie from winning his second title in one year." Transworld motocross
Read the above to understand why I dislike the Weigants's commentary, its NOT accurate...he leaves FACTS OUT, like how after Reed dislocated his shoulder, 3 weeks later at Unidilla JS7 allows Reed past just to pass him again...he was still injured, ever dislocate YOUR shoulder??? Stewart is a chump and so is Jason for righting crapy articles...Jason failed to mention Chad won the Supercross title and raced a more than half an MX season trying to heal a dislocated shoulder...thats how the fastest man on the planet won, not because he was better...
Wow.....someone is bitter.....JS7 was the man on a 125....Reed only complained about the shoulder after he got whooped...same as last year....he got whooped then all the sudden got ill......
Chad Reed...the Kevin Windham of motocross.
Bitter??? not me...JS7 has failed to live up to the media hype every year...not because he doesn't have the talent but because he makes poor decisions on the track (and apparently off - felony charges). I believe he would have more championships and wins if he rode intelligently, but he doesn't...I'm not bitter about that. My comments are based upon having met James and observed his on track decisions numerous times...my comments regarding CR22 are simply to demonstrate my point...which obviously went over your head, they were about Jason W's article, not JS7, I was simply trying to illustrate my POV that Jason's writes poor articles, which by the way Bitter, my name goes with my comments where is yours????
Oh Bitter before you get the wrong idea again , I actually like Jason on TV/internet etc he does an good job but his articles I'm not a fan of. DC would do RX and favor by hiring Steve Dye to right the articles and let Jason do the TV commentary IMO.
Read Steve's article, don't concern yourself with the subject just the writing:
http://www.racerxonline.com/2011/06/03/going-for-the-w-texas-perspective
.......can everyone stop talking about this d-bag I don't care what your job is,you could work in constructor, warehouse, or office, get your lazy money hungery ass out there and earn what you think you deserve. I know so many guys that work ther ass off to feed there family and live a good life. This kid should be on the NFL and join the like of there players.....classic. Don't get me wrong, he is fast and has talent so put some work in and use it you embarrassing child.