Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Chad He d returns to for at ,_<:aheimII .:= : By STEVE COX PHOTOS BY STEVE BRUHN eam Yamaha's Chad Reed was the heavy favorite head ing into the season, and he didn't disappoint at Anaheim I. Following his loss at Phoe nix to Amsoil/Chaparra l Honda's Kevin W ind ham, however, some of the pit buzz sur ro unded whether or not Reed would be able to win if Windham got o ut in front of him again at Anaheim II. Re ed answered straight away. "Yo u know, this weekend was an impo rt ant race fo r me : ' Reed said. "Last weekend, Iwas really disappointed , and I felt that I really wasn't motivated that weekend. I knew t his weekend I would have to change it aro und, and I did a lot 01 tra ining t his week. I did a lot of riding o n my bicycle, and I worked a good-size hole in my hand , so it de finitely paid off this weekend. That was the main thing, just to come into the weekend a little more motivated and get anoth er w in, and race with Kevin." Team Suzu ki's N ick Wey got th e T 12 Crispity, Crunchity, Peanut-Buttery holeshot, but he went wide and lost his d rive thro ugh t he ensuing whoops. Windham too k over right off down the inside , and Reed's teammate David Vuillemin moved in beh ind him. As Vuillemin pres sured Windham, people reflected on the controversy of a we ek ago. Ultimately, tho ugh, the race was nothing but clean. Reed, o n the other hand, started out around fifth off the start but moved right to away from you. Certainly, when I saw thos e guys up front, I did everything possible to get there as last as possible and just sit o n 'e m and have a grea t race - make a good battle and not make any st upid mistake s that wou ld jeopardize any of us. The crowd was digging it, and it definite ly made the race really short and rea lly easy. And it was lun." Windham was having a hard time sticking to the lines he wanted to take w ith the Yamaha duo nipping at his heels . some time to the guys behind you who can run where they want. I knew there was two 01the m back the re, and they w ere so close for a while, and I knew they were both the re . I was kind of hoping they wo uld kind of get together and make some passes on each other, but it didn't happen that way, and they stayed on my tail." Reed and Vuillemin actually did trade places twice be hind Windham, but they managed to stay close e noug h to the Hon da rider tha t he was still unable to pick and choose his lines at his leisu re . Just belore the hallway point, Reed finally made the pass stick on his t eam mate Vuillemin's tail by the end of lap tw o. From the re , the top three just plain mo tored away Irom the pack, never more tha n a few bikelengt hs from o ne another. Reed was do ing eve rything he cou ld not to let Wind ham get to o far ahea d. "When Iwent into the first corner, Iwas up front , but I saw Kevin jump right into the lead, and David as we ll:' Reed said. "Y u know, talent is a ve ry dangero us o t hing. You do n't let him [WindhamI get JANUARY 28,2004 • CYCLE NEWS "I was trying to get into my groove: ' Windham said. "I never rea lly had a chance to run t he lines that I ran in the heat race. Unfo rtu nate ly, when som eo ne is behind you and they 're on you like that, you can't ride the way that you want to , and I didn't, and it really helped t hose guys to be in seco nd, because it was one of those tracks w here I think you cou ld drive it unde rneath somebody fairly easy. I was protecting that, and anytime you pro tect , you lose 40th Anntver-sar u and set out alter Windham, w hile Vuille min made a huge mistake in the Whoo ps olf t he sta rt and lost t ime he 'd never recove r. "When Chad passed me , I said, 'I'm going to follow them lo r a litt le bit: " Vuillemin said. ''And it stayed like this lor a long time. And then I made a big mistake in the whoops and almost crashed, and the n maybe tw o laps late r I made a big mistake again, so I got t ight, and I lost co ntact wit h them ." Windham was racing out Iront pretty

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