MONSTER ENERGY AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES
VOL. 51 ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 4, 2014 P47
could break Reed's will to win.
And they all had their chance.
It's safe to say that Reed's ear-
lier A2 victory was no fluke and
that he has officially thrown his
hat into the ring as a serious
contender for the 2014 champi-
onship. He's shown that he has
the speed, strength, stamina
and equipment under him to
get the job done, and when you
combine these things with prob-
ably the most important ingredi-
ent of all - experience - the two-
time Supercross champ could
very well be a three-time champ
by the time this thing is all over.
The Discount Tires Racing/
TwoTwo Motorsports Team rider
is currently just two points out of
first place in the 2014 SX stand-
ings behind Villopoto.
Reed said that the bike setup
and the track's whoops were
main factors on this night.
"I thought the whoops were
going to be key tonight, and
traction," Reed said. "We made
a few small changes to the bike
during the day that were risky
for us. We went with a tire that
we've never ran with this bike
before, went with an air settings
with the forks that we never
used before, so it was a pretty
big gamble, but you just put faith
in your guys that they're going
to make good choices and we
did and the bike was on point.
Honestly, I think that was what it
was all about tonight, just having
a good bike to make the slippery
track feel not quite so slippery."
As for the whoops, "…they
were sketchy," he said. "There
wasn't a lap that I went through
there that didn't feel like the first
[time]. As much as I love whoops
and feel like it's an advantage for
Briefly...
session from the sidelines.
A fantastic ride by privateer Weston
Peick was unfortunately overshad-
owed by the events going on ahead
of him. Peick looked strong all day
in qualifying on his Motosport.com/
Fly-supported Suzuki and he carried
that momentum into the main event,
where he came up from 10
th
and
eventually passed Justin Brayton to
crack the top five.
By winning the A3 Supercross and
the first of three rounds of the Toy-
ota Triple Challenge, Chad Reed
is the lone rider in a position to win
the $250,000 that is up for grabs.
All he has to do now is win the Ar-
lington, Texas, and East Rutherford,
New Jersey, rounds and the money
will be his.
Rockstar Energy Racing Team's
Ivan Tedesco traded his 450 KTM
in for a 350 for the A3 race and had
a season-best 10
th
-place finish. "I
thought it was good," he said. "I had
a good week on it, but didn't know
what to expect at the race. The bike
is definitely capable. My starts were
decent and I'm going to keep work-
ing on it. For me, being a smaller rid-
er, I can just ride it harder. The 450,
I couldn't ride it how I wanted; I was
riding it, not racing it. I also don't get
as tired on it so for me it's the right
bike right now. It was my decision,
but we had been talking about it for
a while. I've been watching the 250
guys and they're going just as fast as
the 450 guys, so there's got to be
something to it."
