Chad Reed Update
LOS ANGELES, CA (April 14, 2008) - After sustaining injuries during a nasty crash in practice, Team San Manuel's Chad Reed was treated at an area hospital, released and given an AMA provisional in order to race in the evening's Main event. Despite what we now know were significant injuries, the ever-tough Reed raced the Main and finished 12th. Teammate Nathan Ramsey followed closely behind Reed and finished 13th at the fourteenth stop of the 2008 Monster Energy Supercross series, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. Despite one of the worst scenarios a professional SX racer could ever encounter, Reed's courageous ride Saturday evening allowed him to maintain the championship points lead with 296 points while Ramsey continues to rally a top ten standing holding the seventh overall spot, for several weeks now, with 155 points.
The official update regarding Reed from Team San Manuel Team Manager Larry Brooks is, “Chad has a broken/cracked shoulder blade, scapula and a separated shoulder. He is in serious pain, but plans to race the remainder of the series. His courage and determination are unstoppable…I don't know many other riders that could have done what he did last Saturday night.” According to Brooks, Reed travelled to California after the Detroit race, where he is undergoing ongoing medical care for his injuries.
Post crash, Reed lined up for Heat Race #2 completed 2 laps and later lined up for the LCQ. (AMA rules mandate that a rider must cross the starting line in both his heat and the LCQ in order to use an AMA Provisional to advance to the Main Event.) Reed did just that and turned back toward the pits just before the first turn. Ramsey took second place in the Last Chance Qualifier for the transfer to the main.
Television Note: The AMA Supercross class of the 2008 Monster Energy Supercross series broadcasts in HD, on CBS Sports, at 6:00 PM EST, Sunday, April 13th. Round 15 of the Supercross series moves on to Edward Jones Dome, in St. Louis, on Saturday, April 19th.
