Dean Wilson to TwoTwo Motorsports?

The Monster Energy/Pro Circuit’ Dean Wilson is spotted riding Chad Reed’s TwoTwo Motorsports/Discount Tire Kawasaki at a Riverside, California, racetrack today. What does it mean?

Is Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Dean Wilson about to become a fill-in for the injured Chad Reed on Reed’s TwoTwo Motorsports/Discount Tire Kawasaki KX450F? Don’t be surprised, as Wilson was spotted today at Milestone MX Park in Riverside, California. And he was aboard Reed’s bike. What does it mean? Let’s recap the turn of events up to now.

Prior to the 2014 Monster Energy/AMA Supercross Series, Chad Reed’s TwoTwo Motorsports team made the switch from Honda to Kawasaki, and Reed was competitive from the first gate drop of the season. With a podium finish at round one, and then two subsequent main-event wins in the first five rounds, Reed’s racecraft, and equipment, proved to be good enough to win races, and possibly even a championship. However, his huge crash at the San Diego Supercross put an end to that. He attempted to ride a week later in Dallas–with a fractured clavicle, scapula, and T1 vertebra–and ended up just proving to himself what we mortals already knew: that these injuries weren’t possible to “tough out.”

But right after that practice, Reed wasted no time in heading over to talk to Pro Circuit team boss Mitch Payton. Reed’s agent Steve Astephan, was also present.

Fast forward to today, and Dean Wilson is currently out testing the TwoTwo Motorsports Kawasaki KX450F out at Milestone MX Park. Nothing has been confirmed, and it’s too early to know for sure if Wilson will just ride Eastern rounds of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, or for the whole series, or for the whole year. But here’s what we do know:

1) A crash early in the San Diego 250cc main effectively put Wilson out of the championship hunt with only three rounds left to run. He’s 33 points behind the leader right now.

2) Chad Reed tried to hire Dean Wilson–twice–prior to the 2013 season to race 450s alongside him, but Reed couldn’t get support from Honda for factory parts for Wilson. This is one of many reasons TwoTwo Motorsports and Honda mutually decided to part ways prior to 2014.

3) Wilson has wanted to race the 450 class for more than a year.

4) Reed’s TwoTwo Motorsports KX450F is largely a Pro Circuit machine.

5) Reed is sponsored by Monster Energy, as is Wilson.

6) TwoTwo Motorsports’ sponsors signed onto the team so that they’d be represented on the track, and in the pits, at every round, so sitting out completely isn’t a viable option for Reed’s team.

Put it all together, ans we expect to see Wilson out on the track in the 450cc class and in TwoTwo Motorsports/Discount Tire livery as early as this weekend’s Atlanta Supercross. Incidentally, Wilson won the 250cc class there in 2011.

Stay tuned.