After a 2004 Supercross season that culminated with his first AMA Supercross Championship, and a 2005 in which he got off to a shaky start, only to become competitive in the first half of the season and dominant in the second half, Team Yamaha’s Chad Reed makes no bones about the fact that his rides at the Canadian rounds of the 2005-06 AMP’d Mobile World Supercross GP were not up to his own standards. Speaking on Press Day at Angels Stadium prior to the opening round of the AMP’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series, Reed said that his fans can and should expect better.
“I think it’s pretty common knowledge that Canada was a pretty pathetic performance for me, so you know we had a lot of work to do,” the Australian said. “The week after, I pretty much stepped away and kind of took a break. I hurt my knee up there, so I just kind of rested that. We just saw where we were and saw where we could be better – nothing crazy, nothing out of the ordinary. We’re just trying to hit our marks for this weekend.”
Reed appeared to be more confident heading into Anaheim I, where he will be going for his 23rd career premier-class Supercross win and his fourth at Anaheim. He said that he pretty much has his problems in Canada pinpointed.
“It was pretty much me,” Reed said. “I just didn’t perform very good at all up there. We had our reasons, but that’s part of racing, and we fixed the problems, and we’re just ready to start this weekend fresh and new.”
Reed also admitted that the 2005 season was a tough one for him.
“I think one learned thing I learned last year is that you can’t win the championship at the first one, but you can certainly lose it,” Reed said. “I just want to be on the podium and be in a position to win the title, and not give myself so much hard work, like I did last year. I just want to have some fun, get some good starts and make things happen.”
Reed did say that his Canadian knee injury was behind him, and the feels 100-percent healthy coming into Anaheim I.
“I just feel physically ready to go,” Reed said. “I thought that I was where I needed to be in December in Canada, but I was a little behind what I needed to be at that race. But this one will be different. I think it will be a good weekend. Anaheim is a really fun stadium. I kind of grew up watching Jeremy, and it was always called Jeremy’s house. It’s kind of cool to come here and just see the people. We come here three times, and all three times it’s sold out. It just seems like they [fans] are so animated, and so into it. It’s definitely a really special race to win. All the manufacturers are right around here with their test tracks and so on, and the industry is right here. It’s pretty much just a special race to win, and then you get off to the good start that you wanted. I want to win, and that’s why I’m here.”
The final mission, Reed said, is to regain the AMP’d Mobile AMA Supercross Championship.
“The goal is to win the title,” Reed said. “It’s going to be a long season, and you’ve got to be consistent and be on the podium, and win when you can. Hopefully I’ll be the guy who can be on top in Vegas.”
