AMA Supercross: Chad Reed muscles his way to second title

Chad Reed won his second AMA Supercross crown with an awesome performance at Las Vegas on Saturday.

The San Manual Yamaha rider went into the final round with a comfortable points lead over Kevin Windham, but refused to tip-toe to the title. Instead, after an average start left him seventh, the Australian came roaring through the pack past the collective strength of Team Honda to find himself on Windham’s tail with seven laps to go.

The title would have been his had he simply settled for second, but Reed, known as the Thunder from Down Under, put it all on the line and blitzed his way past his rival for an emphatic win, ahead of Windham and Short. This was a brilliant, brave ride, and a great way to crown what has been an up-and-down season for the 2004 champion.

In the Lites class, it was the big annual shoot-out, East Coast versus West Coast – Ryan Villopoto got the holeshot and started to pull away, and it seemed that the most dominant 250f rider of the last couple of years was on his way to a consolation victory after he missed out on the East Coast crown to Trey Canard.

But no-one had told Ryan Dungey that Villopoto was supposed to be unbeatable. Dungey, also a championship runner-up this year, ran Villopoto down, making a move as the flustered former champion tangled with a lapper on the last lap, and running out Shoot Out winner for the second year in a row.

A disappointed Villopoto finished second, ahead of East Coast Champion Trey Canard in a distant third – West Coast champion Jason Lawrence had a very quiet night, gating sixth and slowly working the wrong way down the field before coming up short on a big jump and hitting his mouth. The Yamaha rider withdrew.

AMA Supercross Championship
Round 17 – Las Vegas
1 Chad Reed – Yamaha
2 Kevin Windham – Honda
3 Andrew Short – Honda
4 Josh Hill – Yamaha
5 David Millsaps – Honda
6 Nicholas Wey – KTM

Final Standings
1 Reed 365
2 Windham 352    
3 Short 281     
4 Millsaps 278     
5 Hill 228      
6 Ferry 218

Davey Coombs Memorial East-West Shootout
1 Ryan M. Dungey – Suzuki
2 Ryan D. Villopoto – Kawasaki
3 Trey Canard – Honda