Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128306
n many wa ys, t he AMA Supercross Ser ies opener was one of the most highly ant icipated in recent years . With the defend ing champ , Ricky Carmichael, out for the entire series, t here was some debate over who would step up and take over dominat ion of the sport . Most agreed, howeve r, that t hat someone would be Team Yamaha's Chad I 16 Reed - alt ho ugh most of t hat speculation took place before Reed's recent shoulder injury, suffered w hile playing pool w ith Nathan Ramsey. T he n it became Kevin Wind ham , Ezra Lusk and David Vuillemin getting much of the attention . However, Reed's shou lder turned out to be noth ing more than a mere aggravation on his way to winn ing t he ma in event by almost 20 seconds. "With my surgery, and everyth ing that JANUARY 14, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS went along with it, I never felt like I was doing anything whe re 1really thought I was having problems with that shoulder," Reed said. "I felt good about it. I had a lot of great people around me to make it possible to make it back to Anaheim, and if 1 didn't make it back to Anaheim, then that was too bad. I needed to make my shoulder better and be strong. Iwanted to come back and be the guy to beat to win the title. I was prepared to give up maybe a championship just to fix my shoulder... My riding this weekend, I really don't have an answer for it. I rode the supercross track tw ice in the last four weeks, and I just felt good - I felt on ." The track was giving most of Reed's competition fits. The Anaheim rounds are notorious for the ir slick cond itions, credited to the hardpacked dirt and the nighttime dew. And it didn't help that it ra ined most of the Friday before the event and riders didn't get practice that day. The on ly rider it didn't seem 40th Anniversary to affect was Reed. "I can't wait until I'm healthy and just feeling good again on the bike," Reed said. "I was a little rusty, but I can't complain because I won . I'm just so happy for me and the people involved, you know? You're only as good as the people around you, and there was no other color other than blue and white. I'm happy for the te am." Holeshot artist Ernesto Fonseca fell victim to the track right off the start in the whoops as Reed blitzed by for the lead. Then Red Bull KTM's Grant Langston took a digger, crash ing hard as he passed Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Michael Byrne through the start sweeper a quarter into the race . '" had the pass made, and I was sweeping back in, and I came across the shiny stuff, and the back end just lost traction, and I hit some good dirt, got grip, and I don't know what happened," Langston said. Langston didn't re-e nt er the race. Sean Hamblin was next to hit the dirt. While Reed ran away w ith the race, Hamb lin ran second. As Ezra Lusk went inside him for a pass, Hamblin hung his front tire up on Lusk's rear, tipping over and losing numerous spots. As David Vuillemin, Timmy Ferry and Lusk battled over second, it became Lusk's turn to test the hard Anahe im so il. He had