The winning streak of Australia’s Supercross star Chad Reed has come to an end but his podium record remains in tact after he finished second at Round 7 of the Monster Energy® AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, at Houston’s Reliant Stadium tonight behind Supercross stalwart Kevin Windham.
Reed didn’t get the start he needed on the extremely hard to pass track and was mid pack as he went through Turn 1. In a precarious position, Reed was forced to ride cautiously through the first few laps while the mayhem around him settled down.
By Lap 9 the championship leader had worked his way up to third and moved into second on Lap 10, after an amazing passing manoeuvre on Joshua Hill coming out of Turn 3.
Once into second place, Reed was able to pick up the pace and was lapping half a second quicker than the race leader. Unfortunately with the gap between them already at over 8 seconds, Reed simply ran out of time to chase Windham down before the chequered flag.
“This is a tough pill to swallow,” said Reed. “I gave it everything I had tonight, but Kevin (Windham) rode a great race. We have had a good season, and we will have to put it together in Atlanta next weekend.”
“I knew if I didn’t get a good start it was always going to be very hard to pass but I got sandwiched off the start then had to ride a little cautiously for the first couple of laps while things settled down.”
“I am disappointed, as I feel like I should be winning these races but some of the issues that we have been experiencing seemed to catch up with me tonight.”
The Houston track layout was the first of the rider designed tracks, a new initiative implemented this season where leading riders will design tracks for a number of rounds. Race winner Kevin Windham was the creator of the Houston track with Chad Reed’s masterpiece design to be unveiled at the Indianapolis round on Saturday March 1.
“I really applaud this initiative,” Reed continued. “It is great that we have been given the chance to design the tracks we race on, tonight was Kevin’s night on a track he designed and we will race on the track that I designed in Indianapolis.”
The next round of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series will be held at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome on Saturday February 23.
2008 Monster Energy Drink AMA SX Series – Round 7 Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas
1 Kevin Windham (Honda)
2 Chad Reed (Yamaha) 3.07 secs
3 Tim Ferry (Kawasaki) 13.68 secs
4 Joshua Hill (Yamaha) 17.6 secs
5 Andrew Short (Honda) 23.85 secs
6 Nathan Ramsay (Yamaha) 41.15 secs
7 Charles Summey (Yamaha)
8 David Millsaps (Honda)
9 Nick Wey (KTM)
10 David Vuillemin (Suzuki)
2008 Monster Energy Drink AMA SX Series (An FIM World Championship) Standings – After Round 7 of 17
1 Chad Reed 169
2 Kevin Windham 137
3 Tim Ferry 119
4 Andrew Short 101
5 David Millsaps 98
6 Nathan Ramsay 85
7 Joshua Hill 82
8 Nick Wey 77
9 Mike Alessi 69
10 David Vuillemin 60
SX Lites Race
1. Austin Stroupe (Kawasaki)
2. Jason Lawrence (Yamaha) 1.77 secs
3. Jake Weimer (Honda) 13.64 secs
4. Ryan Dungey (Suzuki) 21.60 secs
5. Brett Metcalfe (Kawasaki) 26.7 secs
6. Dan Reardon (Honda) 38.55 secs
7. Robert Kiniry (Honda) 41.92 secs
8. Wil Hahn (Yamaha) 43.07 secs
9. Michael Lapaglia (Suzuki) 44.12 secs
10. Matthew Lemoine (Yamaha) 45.42 secs
SX Lites Points
1. Lawrence 135
2. Dungey 129
3. Stroupe 113
4. Metcalfe 112
5. Hahn 101
6. Reardon 95
7. Brayton 85
8. Kiniry 71
9. Hahn 69
10. Laninovich 62
