Reed 2nd in St Louis to keep title dream alive
Published: 21st April 2008
Author: Yamaha Racing Communications
Yamaha's Chad Reed battled through the pain of his fractured shoulder to take a decent second position to main title rival Kevin Windham in front of almost 49,000 fans last weekend at the Edward Jones Dome in St Louis for the fifteenth round of seventeen in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross championship, also an FIM World Championship.
Reed seized the lead on the first lap of the main event, taking place just one
week after his heavy practice crash in Detroit, but was powerless to prevent
Windham from seizing control. The result was nevertheless the Australian's
eleventh podium of the season on the San Manuel YZ450F and means that his points
lead was only cut to 13 with two races to go.
"I was a long way from 100
percent tonight, going from twelfth last week to second is huge for me," he
said. "I was back and forth this week seeing doctors and trying to just get
everything taken care of. We made huge gains this week, and there were a lot of
people who supported me. Unfortunately, we've been in this position a lot, so
you learn over the years. Last weekend was just survival, while this weekend, I
felt pretty good in practice. The track just got really gnarly in the main
event, and the whoops were really tough, and I couldn't hang with Windham. I had
to let go of my pride and look at the bigger picture, and that's tough. I felt,
for the rest of the track, I had what it took to win; I just didn't have what it
took in the whoops."
"I feel like I'm still in control of this thing,"
he added. "To salvage a second this weekend, it was huge for me, and I think it
was huge for my competitors. You can see that a lot of them are really
motivated, still we got out there, got a good start, and I did what I had to
do."
Reed's team-mate Nathan Ramsey took a season-best finish with
fourth place. Josh Hill was sixteenth.
AMA Motocross Champion Grant
Langston has missed the entire Indoor campaign with an eye affliction but hopes
to begin riding very soon to prepare for his Outdoor defence. "He's coming over
this week to start riding so that we can check him out, but we're still not
completely sure he's going to be ready for Glen Helen," said team manager Jimmy
Perry. "But that is the plan, for him to be ready to go come Glen Helen. His eye
seems to be healing very slowly, so we'll have to wait and see."
The
penultimate Supercross meeting takes place at the Qwest Field in Seattle next
weekend.
2008 AMA-SX St. Louis, MO 21/04/2008
Race 1 - 20 Laps
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time
1 Kevin Windham Honda USA 18'7.740
2 Chad Reed Yamaha AUS 0'7.765
3 Andrew Short Honda USA 0'16.083
4 Nathan Ramsey Yamaha USA 0'22.079
5 Thomas Hahn Kawasaki USA 0'26.788
6 David D Millsaps Honda USA 0'31.473
7 Justin Brayton KTM USA 0'37.787
8 Paul Carpenter Honda USA 0'42.197
9 Travis Preston Kawasaki USA 0'51.429
10 Jason Thomas Honda USA 0'66.715
11 Nicholas Wey KTM USA -1 Laps
12 David Vuillemin Suzuki FRA -1 Laps
13 Heath Voss Honda USA -1 Laps
14 Eric Sorby Honda USA -1 Laps
15 Bryan K Johnson Honda USA -1 Laps
16 Josh Hill Yamaha USA -1 Laps
Rider Standings
19/04/2008
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points
1. Chad Reed Yamaha AUS 318
2. Kevin Windham Honda USA 305
3. David D Millsaps Honda USA 244
4. Andrew Short Honda USA 241
5. Josh Hill Yamaha USA 196
6. Tim Ferry Kawasaki USA 189
7. Nathan Ramsey Yamaha USA 173
8. David Vuillemin Suzuki FRA 146
9. Paul Carpenter Honda USA 135
10. Nicholas Wey KTM USA 131
11. Charles Summey Yamaha USA 120
12. Heath Voss Honda USA 109
13. Travis Preston Kawasaki USA 93
14. Jason Thomas Honda USA 85
15. Eric Sorby Honda USA 83
25. Grant Langston Yamaha RSA 38
39. Broc Hepler Yamaha USA 3
Manufacturer Standings
19/04/2008
Pos. Manufacturer Points
1. Yamaha 339
2. Honda 327
3. Kawasaki 267
4. Suzuki 195
5. KTM 135