Chad Reed Has Always Been Classy in San Diego

As the 2014 Monster Energy Supercross Series moves from Angel Stadium in Anaheim 150Km south to Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego for round six, everyone is still trying to gather their collective jaws off the ground. When Chad Reed came from behind to win round three in Anaheim, supercross fans all over the world shouted “OMG!” simultaneously as few expected the 31 year-old Australian could ever get to the top step of the podium again. Here we are just a few short weeks later and Reed is coming off his second win of 2014. With his history in San Diego, he is the odds on favourite to win again this weekend. Who could have imagined this?

We’ve seen in other sports before, great athletes get knocked down almost to the point of being forgotten only to regroup and rise from near obscurity back to the top of their sport. I remember in the late 1990s Andre Agassi going from number one in the world to a very out of shape and troubled 165th in the world in the ATP tennis rankings. To watch such a talented individual go into such a tail spin was hard as all we could do was wait until he hit the proverbial rock bottom. Thankfully, for all tennis fans, he eventually did and little by little he pieced his career back together to rise back up to the top of the tennis world. It was a miraculous comeback and one that cemented him as one of the greats who has ever picked up a tennis racquet.

While Chad Reed didn’t quite sink down to the level that Agassi did, by Reed’s standard 2013 was just awful and few thought he could come back to the level that he was at before his fateful crash in Dallas in 2012. After all, age-wise, he is on the backside of his long career, plus he also changed bikes once again for this season. With riders like Ryan Villopoto, James Stewart, Ryan Dungey and Ken Roczen, the talent level is higher than it’s ever been. However, like Agassi, Chad Reed is extremely talented and driven, and little by little during the off season he rebuilt himself both physically and mentally so he could be a contender in 2014.

So as we head into San Diego this weekend Chad Reed has the one thing that every athlete wants to have – confidence! This is the one thing that can come and go every time you throw your leg over the bike, but when you have it things are great, when you lose it, you’re desperate to get it back. Well, Chad Reed now has it. Considering that in his career he has won the San Diego SX on six different occasions, I’d say that the odds are in his favour this weekend, but this is SX and Reed will have talented and hungry riders like three time champion Villopoto looking to squash any confidence that Reed has built up.

With the San Diego round being the last western stop before the 2014 series moves east to cities like Dallas, Atlanta and eventually Toronto, things should get very interesting in the confines of Qualcomm Stadium this Saturday. Also, with this weekend’s military theme, all the top riders should be celebrating their nation’s soldiers in their own way. So far the 2014 Monster Energy SX is proving to be one of the best we’ve seen in years, and with riders like Stewart and Dungey who haven’t won yet, we think it’s only going to get better.