The idea of the Blogandt noun of the Week is to indentify the person, place or thing that grabs the most buzz after the races. It’s a tough call when you just completed a supercross season pitting two bitter rivals against each other for nearly five months, but I’ll give Chad Reed the nod here. No doubt, Stewart’s season was amazing. He picked himself off the floor at the opener to march back and win the title, in a manner no one has ever before. As James mentioned, RC came from worst to first in 2002, but he had a solid points lead by Daytona and had a margin of error to work with. Travis Pastrana, Mike LaRocco and David Vuillemin stood in RC’s way that year, but Travis essentially took himself and LaRocco out, and then Vuillemin hurt himself doing a photo shoot (for another magazine). By Daytona, RC had the points lead and some wiggle room.
James had no margin for error, though, because Chad Reed is the most consistent rider in the history of supercross. The only rider to even come close to Reed’s podium-per-start ratio is Jeremy McGrath, but because MC’s results slipped a bit in his later years, Reed stands alone at the top.
Think of it this way: barring first-turn crashes, which are often not the rider’s fault, Reed never crashed once in a main event this year. NOT A SINGLE CRASH during a race. Can you imagine how many jumps, turns, corners and laps he logged without ever making a big enough mistake to go down?
If Reedy decides to hang it up in the next year or so, he’ll retire as the most consistent rider ever. And what does that consistency get you?
Look at Reed’s final points margin to the leader in supercross for his first seven full seasons in supercross:
2003 -7
2004 +9
2005 -25
2006 - 5
2007 -51
2008 +13
2009 - 4
You’re looking at five years where he came into Vegas with the title on the line—only in 2005 and 2007 did someone clinch over him before the finale. That’s like making it to the NBA finals in five of the last seven years.
1Photo by Brian Johnson, DMXS Radio
Reed crossing the finish in Vegas. Consider this the polar opposite of a whip or one-hander.
Chad had the buzz on his side heading into Vegas, as some fans turned his direction after Chisholm gate (although, as Stewart pointed out, getting held up by a lapper one time is nothing compared to taking a dirt nap in Anaheim). He had everyone wondering if he would take Stewart out in Vegas. And when he executed a harsh pass on him in the race, he had everyone wondering if it was an attempted take out or just a pass with a little extra aggression.
The guessing will continue. When we interviewed him at the end of the race for the Supercross Live! presented by Parts Unlimited Webcast, he said “I’m going back to Australia for a vacation, and I have, what, three weeks to get ready for the next series?”
Could it mean he’ll make a run at the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship? And what about next year? Reed barely managed to get a ride together with Rockstar/Makita Suzuki for 2009, signing his deal in August. With the financial trouble each and every team and manufacturer in this sport is dealing with, will Reed have a place to race next year at all?
The buzz continues….
