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/245323
VOL. 51 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 21, 2014 P57 REED TALKS ABOUT NUMBER 42 "It took way too long to get to 42 wins," said Chad Reed after his Anaheim II victory. "It just seemed like the amount of effort and work and time to get to this, the 41 previous wins seemed like they came a lot easier." Later, Reed admitted that this victory was the most emotional of his career. "After the first race [A1], I just felt like I had more in me and we came in here much more prepared. So to chip away at those guys and actually ride better towards the end of the race is actually nice. I'm super happy for that. "I got a good jump off the start for the first time this year. Honestly, last year, the bike was very difficult to start on, and I think I just got gun shy. In between races I was rippin' starts and getting good and confident with it, and then I would come to the races and get all gun shy again. So I just tried to change it up a bit and I finally got a good start." Reed was running in fifth at the end of the first lap, which actually might have worked in his favor. After a few laps, Reed was able to get a small gap over Justin Brayton, which allowed Reed to experiment with a few outside lines and not have to worry about protecting his inside at the same time. Meanwhile, up front, Dungey, Stewart, Roczen and Villopoto were going at it at a feverish pace and that may have accounted for a couple of unforced errors. "The first few laps were tough, everyone was kind of going everywhere," said Reed. "The track was really slick and got beat down, and I kind of got myself a bit of a gap and just kind of sat on Roczen. I thought Villo' was going to go to the front so I just tried to latch onto him. "For people to make passes tonight, you had to be gnarly. It was a difficult racecourse to pass on and my passes didn't come easy. Other than Dungey and RV lying on the ground, it was tough. Actually, when Dungey went down he actually crossed my line when he was getting up, so I lost a lot of ground to the guys up front on that. Honestly, I'm not sure anyone would have caught Dungey had he not gone down. This is his kind of track and when you're up front you can kind of ride your own lines and be smooth." Once Dungey and Villopoto crashed out of contention, Reed found himself sitting third behind Stewart and Roczen, and that's when things started to click for Reed. "I looked at the board and we were at lap 16 and right about then I was feeling like, 'wow, I got this thing,'" said Reed. "I could see I was getting faster and the lines were coming to me a little easier and more frequently. So I just put my head down and chipped away. When I got to Stewart I just tried to make a clean pass and then get away so he couldn't come back at me. So basically, I just finally loosened up and rode to my potential those last few laps. Reed followed up by saying, "I feel like I'm in shape, like I was in 2012, and I would like to kind of put myself in the battle - get better starts and battle for this thing. The only thing I want to change is no crashing in Dallas or anything like that. Just get this thing to Vegas and see what happens. I believe that I belong here; I believe this can happen. I just needed to get healthy, I needed to get back in shape and get on a motorcycle I'm comfortable on. We ticked all those boxes and here we are." Shan Moore