Reed back on top in Canada
By TMX Archives on 31st Mar 08
Yamaha's Chad Reed got back to winning ways with his seventh victory of the 2008 AMA Monster Energy Supercross championship in Toronto last weekend. The Australian reengaged his title quest to claim the twelfth round of the campaign and lead the series by 20 points with just five events remaining.
After missing the podium for the two last races Reed was faultless across an extremely difficult, muddy and rutted terrain that saw many of his peers taste Canadian mud at some stage. Yamaha's Josh Hill was running as high as second before a mistake caused him to lose positions and he eventually crossed the finish line in fifth. Reed though cautiously led from start-to-finish for his ninth set of silverware this year. After the 'Monsoon' conditions at Daytona this was the second time the riders had to traverse a tricky circuit after the frozen dirt that was imported into the stadium began to melt and fall apart.
"The dirt was horrible! It was survival out there," laughed the recently-turned 26 year old former champion. "It was important to get that holeshot and try to get out front, and I just tried to control the race. I watched the pitboard and attempted to keep [the gap] at 10 seconds, and when it go to anything under that, I tried to pick it up a little bit. I think the key tonight was that slow was fast."
"I'm happy. It's going great. I've had some ups and downs, but I've got seven wins now, and like I said, I want to get this thing over and done with," added Reed who used the first break in the Supercross calendar to fly home to Australia for a holiday last week.
After beating main threat Kevin Windham, Reed was able to add a further three points to his advantage in the standings. The first of the five remaining races takes places next weekend at the Texas Stadium in Dallas.
2008 AMA-SX Toronto, Canada 31/03/2008
Race 1 - 20 Laps
1 Chad Reed Yamaha AUS 20'53.073
2 Kevin Windham Honda USA 0'4.168
3 David D Millsaps Honda USA 0'6.400
4 Andrew Short Honda USA 0'40.972
5 Josh Hill Yamaha USA 0'49.413
6 Nicholas Wey KTM USA 0'51.814
7 Tim Ferry Kawasaki USA 0'80.748
8 Troy Adams Honda USA -1 Laps
9 Charles Summey Yamaha USA -1 Laps
10 Jason Thomas Honda USA -1 Laps
11 Paul Carpenter Honda USA -1 Laps
12 Eric Sorby Honda USA -1 Laps
13 David Vuillemin Suzuki FRA -1 Laps
14 Travis Preston Kawasaki USA -1 Laps
15 Heath Voss Honda USA -1 Laps
18 Nathan Ramsey Yamaha USA -2 Laps
Rider Standings 29/03/2008
1. Chad Reed Yamaha AUS 262
2. Kevin Windham Honda USA 242
3. Andrew Short Honda USA 190
4. David D Millsaps Honda USA 184
5. Josh Hill Yamaha USA 151
6. Tim Ferry Kawasaki USA 151
7. Nathan Ramsey Yamaha USA 137
8. David Vuillemin Suzuki FRA 123
9. Nicholas Wey KTM USA 110
10. Paul Carpenter Honda USA 106
11. Charles Summey Yamaha USA 93
12. Heath Voss Honda USA 80
13. Mike Alessi Suzuki USA 69
14. Jacob Marsack Honda USA 65
15. Eric Sorby Honda USA 64
23. Grant Langston Yamaha RSA 38
36. Broc Hepler Yamaha USA 3
Manufacturer Standings 29/03/2008
1. Yamaha 274
2. Honda 257
3. Kawasaki 213
4. Suzuki 172
5. KTM 110