TwoTwo Motorsports’ Chad Reed wins his 43rd AMA Supercross and heads a Kawasaki sweep at Angel Stadium.
For longer than a decade, TwoTwo Motorsports’ Chad Reed has shined inside Angel Stadium. In 2002, his first year racing in the USA, he actually led the 450cc supercross main event at Anaheim I for quite a while before a fall ruined it for him. After winning the 250cc East that year, he moved up to the 450cc class full-time in 2003, and won Anaheim III.
Fast forward 11 years, and 31-year-old Chad Reed has now won two of the three races at Anaheim, as he took down his first win of 2014 at Anaheim II, two weeks ago, and then he did it again tonight.
Points leader Ryan Villopoto grabbed the holeshot to start the main event, but Reed found an early opportunity to snatch the lead away from the defending champ, and he took it. Reed led the opening lap, while Villopoto came under attack from Anaheim I winner Ken Roczen. Roczen made a pass stick on lap four of the 20-lap 450cc main event, then set out after Reed, while James Stewart sat fourth, Ryan Dungey sat fifth, and Justin Barcia sat sixth.
Stewart was the first in the lead group to falter, as he lost the front going into a turn and remounted ninth. The next big mistake came from Dungey. In the long, treacherous whoop section, Dungey went down so hard that the crash actually ripped his clutch lever and left grip right off of the handlebars, leaving only his clutch cable dangling. It took him a very long time to get his bike running again, and after he got back to the mechanics’ area, he called it a night.
Out front, Roczen made a couple of runs at Reed, but couldn’t make anything stick, and Reed took his second win of the year.
“It was a tough racetrack tonight,” said Reed. “It was about making smart choices and putting yourself in a good position to ride 20 solid laps. This win means more to me than the last one [on January 18] where I came from behind because it’s tougher to go out there and lead all 20 laps. We had our bike dialed in tonight and it was one of those nights where it felt one with me.”
Roczen finished a solid second, with Villopoto third, Barcia fourth, and Suzuki privateer Weston Peick an impressive fifth. Reed now trails Villopoto in the championship chase by only two points as the series heads to Reed’s favorite track: San Diego.
Wilson took his first win of the season, a week after he probably should have, over Seely, with Yamaha’s Cooper Webb grabbing his second podium finish of his rookie season–still 14 seconds behind Seely, who was six seconds behind Wilson.
“This win really means a lot to me,” said Wilson. “The race was shaping up to be exciting during those last few laps, but I received a break. This is really emotional for me. I gained some good points and we still have some races left. I am going to come out and do my best at those races.”
Points leader Jason Anderson was coming through the pack after a so-so start in the main event, and on lap three, he went by Malcolm Stewart for fourth, but when Stewart countered the move, they came together and both went down. Stewart got going again fairly quickly, but Anderson was relegated to 11th.
Anderson came through the pack incredibly well, though, to finish an eventual fifth, behind Wilson’s teammate Justin Hill in fourth.
As the series heads to San Diego next weekend, Seely and Anderson are tied for the 250cc West points lead with 109 points apiece.
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