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Reed Crashes, Maintains Supercross Points Lead
Category: Racing News
Date: 17 Apr 2008
Time: 14:22:47 -0400
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As if there was any doubt, the Detroit, Mich. round of the 2008 AMA Supercross series on April 12 proved that Chad Reed is one of the toughest athletes on the planet. After suffering a huge crash in practice and going to the hospital battered and bruised, he still rode his L&M Racing YZ450F to a remarkable 12th place in the 20-lap main event to preserve a 16-point lead over Kevin Windham with just three races to go in the championship. Meanwhile Josh Hill finished a strong fourth to maintain fifth place in the series on his Yamaha Factory Racing YZ450F, while Ryan Morais claimed a terrific second in the Supercross Lites race aboard his Yamaha of Troy YZ250F. Reed’s crash happened in the first practice session, when he cart-wheeled hard onto a take-off ramp with his bike landing on top of him. After medical evaluation, he returned to the track and used a provisional starting position to get into the main event. When the gate dropped Reed suffered more bad luck in a first-turn crash, picking up his YZ with one hand afterwards and then chasing after the field in last place. Incredibly, he passed rider after rider to finally get to 12th and earn nine valuable points. “I’ve always been the guy that goes out there and gives it everything I possibly can,” an exhausted Reed said afterwards. “I couldn’t do it tonight – I had nothing. But we’re going to fight to the end.” Hill’s experience was thankfully more pleasant. He got a top-10 start and began moving forward from there, steadily working his way up to fourth behind Windham on lap four and then strongly challenging for a podium finish. But the long race ultimately took a toll as Hill tightened up and had to settle for fourth. “It was good to see Josh set the fastest time in practice and win his second heat race of the year,” said Yamaha Supercross team manager Jim Perry. “I was also glad to see Ryan get back on pace in Supercross Lites. It was one of his better rides, and another good result for the Yamaha of Troy team.”
2008 AMA Supercross Points 4/12/08 Pos. Rider Points
1 Chad Reed – Yamaha 296
2 Kevin Windham 280
3 Davi Millsaps 229
4 Andrew Short 221
5 Josh Hill – Yamaha 191
6 Tim Ferry 189
7 Nathan Ramsey – Yamaha 155
8 David Vuillemin 137
9 Paul Carpenter 123
10 Nick Wey 121