With all the hype over James Stewart’s first year as a 250 class pro, and Ricky Carmichael’s continuing domination of outdoor motocross here in the United States, Chad Reed has almost gone unnoticed. Yet, a couple of weeks ago, Reed rode his Yamaha YZ450F to the first moto win over Ricky Carmichael in the 250 class in quite some time. This occurred in a moto when both Carmichael and Reed crashed. Carmichael simply could not catch Reed after falling behind.
Is Chad Reed now riding faster than any outdoor motocross rider in the history of AMA competition, with the lone exception of Ricky Carmichael? This is an interesting question, but it is clear that Ricky Carmichael is the competition that is driving Chad Reed relentlessly forward.
Despite all this, even though Reed has a solid lock on second place in the points standings after four rounds, he is 37 points behind Carmichael. The difference between Reed and just about everyone else is that Carmichael doesn’t make Reed concede defeat. He clearly has the opposite affect on Reed . . . Reed is committed to being the first man to beat Carmichael in an outdoor pro motocross championship series — and you can almost feel the incredible effort he is making to achieve that goal every week.
