Rescue of what? Hopefully, the 250 class in AMA supercross/motocross. Rescuing the fans from the boredom of Ricky Carmichael’s domination.
If you ask most race fans whether they came to see a good race or came to see a highly predictable slaughter, you know what the answer would be. We (fans) had the same problem a few years ago when Jeremy McGrath was riding around supercross stadiums ten seconds in front of second place every Saturday night. Carmichael is making it worse.
Why do we think Reed might be the guy to shake up Carmichael? After all, he couldn’t run with Bubba Stewart outdoors in the 125 class. Well, you have to look a little deeper.
First of all, Reed was never comfortable on the YZ250F outdoors last season. He had already spent a year riding the World Championships on a 250 two-stroke. He made it clear he wanted to ride the bigger bike, and now he can.
The other reason we think Reed is the one guy who can challenge Carmichael next year is the speed he has shown since the end of the AMA Outdoor National Motocross series. In his first two events on 250-class machinery, Reed has been awesome.
At the World Cup of Motocross, against some very stiff competition (not the least of which was teammate Tim Ferry), Reed took the overall with 1/2/1 moto scores. That was his first weekend racing Yamaha’s new YZ450F. To call that performance impressive is a gross understatement.
Carmichael wasn’t at the World Cup, however. A few weeks later Carmichael and Reed went head-to-head at the U.S. Open in Las Vegas. Although neither Carmichael nor Reed won the U.S. Open (Mike LaRocco did), most witnesses would attest to the fact Carmichael and Reed were the two fastest riders on the track both evenings (on Friday night, Carmichael and Reed diced for several laps, with Reed showing that he is completely unintimidated by Carmichael).
All this, and Chad Reed is still learning. He is a young Australian rider who has raced in the United States a total of one year. He will get better.
