By the time Chad Reed hit the states, he was already a seasoned rider with two Australian Supercross Championships under his belt – one for Suzuki Australia in 1999 and the other aboard a Factory Yamaha in 2000. He was also no stranger to stiff competition, as he finished a close runner-up to the legendary Mickael Pichon in the 2001 World Grand Prix. Reed garnered a Yamaha of Troy Lites ride in 2002, despite his big-bike credentials. When he captured the East Coast Lites Championship by winning six of seven rounds, he showed the skeptics how deserving he was of his ride and made his presence known on the AMA scene. When the sport moved outdoors, Chad revealed that his talent did not lie only in Supercross by rounding out the podium for the ’02 Motocross Lites Championship, including a win at one round. In 2003, Chad clinched the World Supercross Title and finished second in the AMA SX series, as well as third in the nationals.
If there were any doubts left that Chad was a force to be reckoned with, the 2004 Supercross season surely put those to rest as he took home one of the most prestigious titles in our sport – the AMA Supercross Championship. To round out the year, Chad finished a very close and respectable second place outdoors to arguably the stiffest competition of all, Ricky Carmichael, with a repeat performance during the ’05 Supercross season. The 2006 national season was unfavorable to Chad as injuries knocked him out of the championship early, even though he still finished sixth in the championship due to his earlier strong performances. For 2007 and 2008, Chad signed a supercross-only contract with the San Manuel Yamaha team. With indoors now his main priority, Chad charged hard in 2007 to finish just behind James Stewart in the AMA Supercross Series. Although he decided sit out all but one round in the summer of ‘07, Chad certainly did not slow down. He burst out of the gate at Anaheim this year and, despite a mid-season injury, did not look back until he had dominated the 2008 AMA Supercross Series.
Reed signed with Suzuki for 2009, although the details of his contract are not yet known. No matter what the future holds for the Aussie, Chad has earned a reputation for natural talent, perseverance, and super-human ability to ride through pain, and, by the numbers, he is one of the greatest supercross riders to ever. Alyssa Wald
