It only took him three rounds to do it, but Chad Reed, who is now tied with Villopoto for points in the 2012 Supercross Series, finally pulled out a first place finish in a 2012 SX main event. Reed, riding for the Two-Two Motorsports Bel-Ray Racing Honda team, has made quite a name for himself in the world of motocross – but he had been putting up a lackluster performance up until Los Angeles.
His night started off rocky as he fell on a turn during his heat race, something that happened in both Anaheim and Phoenix in the weeks prior. Reed was asked about the coincidence in a post-race interview, where he stated, “I’ve been struggling with front-end feel. When you’re pushing on the front and everything seems good, and then all of a sudden you’re lying on the ground, that’s not good. For the main event, we went back to a tire we rode the majority of last season on. And I hadn’t used that tire since, man, I want to say Salt Lake City last year, when I started riding the factory bike. I kind of went to a different tire that was good on the factory bike, and I hadn’t really questioned it. But we were struggling with front-end feel, so I decided to open up that can of worms and use something we used last year. It gave me that feeling.”
Reed is not responsible for all the action of the night, however. The main event started strong with Villopoto and Dungey taking an early lead, while Canard and Morais crept up behind them. Morais and Canard became tangled up near the first triple jump, however, and both riders were knocked unconscious – prompting a red flag from race officials. Ryan Morais was taken to the hospital, and it was later confirmed that he suffered a broken jaw and three fractures in his back. Canard was knocked out in the crash, and suffered fractures in the T10 and T12 vertebrae of his neck.
The race was restarted after a bad crash involving Trey Canard and Ryan Morais, but now Weimer, Stewart, and Reed began their battle for first place. Villopoto got hung up on a tough block after the restart, and wasn’t able to fully recover. Dungey threatened Reed’s lead for a short while after the restart, but Reed finally took the win when it was all over.
Eli Tomac took the victory in the Lites class. He ended up dominating the track, and currently leads the Lites point totals with 62. Wilson finished second, with Osborne, Rattray, and Anderson rounding out the top five.
The top 10 main event finishers, in order, are Reed, Dungey, Stewart, Villopoto, Metcalfe, Millsaps, Hansen, Tickle, Windham, and Alessi. Ryan Dungey currently leads the 2012 season point totals with 67, with Chad Reed and Ryan Villopoto following close behind with 63 points each. Jake Weimer and James Stewart each have 48 points, Kevin Windham has 43 points, Brett Metcalfe has 38 points, and both Andrew Short and Josh Hansen each have 36 points.
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