Only his trainer would know how flexible he actually is, but it sure seems like Chad Reed is made of rubber. Every time Reedy takes a big loss or a big hit, he manages to bounce back stronger than ever. So after James Stewart came from nearly last to track Reed down and win the previous supercross race in Indianapolis, Reed once again picked up his game and put in a much stronger showing in Dallas.
The track made it tough on everyone, as Texas Stadium’s legendary hole in the roof once again allowed rain to hit the supercross track for the umpteenth time. Luckily the rain came on Friday and Durt Wurx was able to cover a lot of the track, but by the time the riders hit the dirt on Saturday, the soil was moist enough to form some deep ruts. That would make consistency the order of the day, as it would be easy for a rider to hook a rut wrong and crash. This was most noted in the Lites class. Motoworldracing.com Yamaha rider Justin Brayton had been working his way closer and closer to the front of the Lites pack all year, and he nailed the fastest qualifying time in practice. But Brayton crashed in the rutted first turn of both his heat race and the Lites LCQ, and found himself sitting in the stands watching the main event.
The heat was on for the Lites riders who did make the main event, because the championship fight was winding down between Boost Mobile/Yamaha of Troy’s Ryan Morais and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki boys Ben Townley and Darcy Lange. Mud makes for strange luck, and that trio was feeling the pressure as the gate dropped for the main. Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey was playing spoiler by battling Lange and Townley at the front of the pack, but Dungey crashed in a rutted corner at the same moment that Townley passed Lange, and the New Zealander suddenly found himself in the lead. He held on for a huge win. Morias finished fourth, which narrowed his points lead down to just three points over Townley heading into the finale in Detroit. Think those guys were going to be nervous?
On to the Supercross Class, and it seemed obvious that James Stewart would win the race as long as he got a good start. After all, he won from the back of the pack the week before, so when he started with the leaders this time, it seemed like it was all over. Honda’s Andrew Short was on the comeback trail after missing the early part of the series with a torn ACL, and he led early along with his teammate Davi Millsaps. Stewart took his time passing on the rutted track, and he eventually worked his way past the ailing Honda boys to take the lead. Reed was right behind him, and this time Stewart couldn’t shake him. Reed then dialed in a tricky triple jump in the center of the rhythm section and started closing on Stewart—then lapped traffic started stacking up, making Stewart’s spot even worse.
The Dallas fans who expected to see a yawner were getting treated to a dramatic push down the stretch as Reed tried to avenge his tough loss in Indy. Stewart’s mechanic somehow passed the message about the triple jump over the James, and he started jumping it, which stabilized the gap. But Reed never let up, and when Stewart picked his way through the final, rutted rhythm section, Reed launched a last-ditch effort, nailing the jumps and then diving underneath his rival in the very last corner of the race. If Reed wanted to take his rivalry to an even higher level, he could have parked Stewart in the last corner and won the race in the dirtiest fashion possible. Instead, he simply tried a block pass instead of a take out, and came up a wheel length short.
Stewart had another win, but once again Reed had reason to think he could run with his rival. But was this loss tough enough to engage Reed’s bounce back skills at the next round?
