Bad Chad!

Published: 14th November 2007

Author: Steve Matthes Photo by Steve Cox

After taking down Tommy Gun at the MXdN, Speedy Reedy does the same to Timmy Ferry at the US Open - sheesh, will the Aussie never learn?

There is this race in America called the US Open. It’s billed as the ‘World’s Richest Supercross’ and that’s only half right. It is indeed a very lucrative race for the riders as 100,000 bucks are up for grabs but it’s not a supercross – it’s as much a supercross as the Weston Beach Race is a GP. It’s held in a hotel in Las Vegas called the MGM (named after the movie studio, y’know with the big ass lion roaring at the beginning, I don’t even know if you guys have this over there - I’ll be quiet now).

This hotel has an arena built into it and that’s where the ‘supercross’ is held. The keyword in that sentence was ‘arena’ which means it’s an arenacross, not a supercross. With it being an arenacross the track is tight and the only way to make a pass is to ‘make’ room for yourself which sometimes leaves other riders upset. More on this later.

The folks at Live Nation (race promoter) throw around a lot of prize money as explained but they go above and beyond that by teaming up with Toyota trucks and offering a $250,000 Toyota Trifecta. To get all of this cheese, a rider has to win both nights, both heats, get both holeshots and win both Superpoles which is a one-lap, balls-to-the-walls contest, one rider at a time. San Manuel Yamaha’s Chad Reed had accomplished four out of the six going into Saturday’s Main Event. This is the point where things get real goofy so stay with me here.

Everybody knew that come hell or high water Chad was going to get the holeshot. The crowd knew it, the other riders knew it and the hot dog lady probably knew it as the announcers just wouldn’t let it die, constantly reminding all of us that CR had a chance at two hundred and fiddy grand (and who reading this does NOT think Chad would go on to the win if he did grab the holeshot - besides Sutty?).

So when Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry got the jump out of the gate and looked like he was heading for the holeshot everybody knew that Skippy was going to do everything in his power to ‘make’ room for himself in that narrow first turn. Ferry had a wheel on everybody and proceeded to start moving over to the inside when Reed, in a desperate move, grabbed a handful of throttle and tried to ‘make’ room. Ferry and Reed tangled bars and both went down. Red Dog got the worst of it because he was on the outside and flew into the arena’s wall! The crash also collected Grant Langston, Andrew Short and Suzuki’s newest rider Mike Alessi. Did I happen to mention that the five guys that went down also happened to have finished 1-2-3-4-5 the previous night? Ladies and gentlemen, the race was now officially on!

So who benefited the most from this carnage? Factory Connections Jake Weimer was the leader. You are probably sitting there thinking ‘Jake Weimer was on a 450?’ Nope, in yet another twist to this race it was a run-what-ya-brung format. This means it was open to Lites riders and Weimer was a quick learner. In second was the original freestyler, Carey Hart’s new rider Josh Demuth. Demuth is an interesting rider having won three arenacross titles years ago and then promptly dropping off the face of the earth. He was working in a dealership last year in his home state of Texas. When’s the last time your parts guy raced the US Open? So while the big dogs were picking up their bikes in the first turn, Weimer and Demuth were making hay.

So flashback to the first turn melee. Before Timmy picked up his bike and after he dusted himself off from the wall collision he walked over to Reed and let him know that he was number one - if the number one means the middle finger on one hand fully extended. It was straight out of the wrestling ring for sure. Then the Chad was off and had to pass Short and Langston to help him out with the overall. His 250K was bye-bye at this point and so was the 100K for the win unless he got going.

And get going he did. He worked his way through the pack, passing all the way up to sixth and the overall if the race stayed the same. He got around Andrew Short by tripling in the turn before the start straight and went around the outside of Shorty. Which was all good except Shorty wasn’t going quietly on this night. He might have with another rider but Short was already upset because the previous night Reed had told everybody that he “wasn’t really trying” and was “just riding around”. Short, in an uncharacteristic rant, told the media something to the effect that he hoped to give the leader some challenge and that Chad didn’t have to say that. There was as much chance as Reed going around Short on the outside as me beating Lennox in the ring (who is actually Canadian, I know you English like to claim him)!

Andrew Short and Chad Reed collided hard when Short challenged Reed’s pass attempt and they toppled over in a big wreck. Grant Langston came around just as they were both picking up their bikes and when Reed got going he clipped GL’s back tyre and went down again! Chad Reed crashed as much in this 20-minute race as he did in all 16 rounds of the previous year’s supercross series. So that was it, Reed’s shot was officially gone and you know who was in position to win the 100 grand? None other then everybody’s favourite tattooed parts guy - Josh Demuth! I wonder what the lady in the sports book at the MGM would’ve done if I had gone up there before the race and asked to bet on Josh Demuth to win. Punch me in the gut? Call security? The mind boggles with possibilities.

I couldn’t believe what had happened, this race was getting crazier by the minute. Josh Demuth, a full-on privateer, was going to win the US Open. Chad Reed was picking himself off the ground what seemed like every three minutes and my buddy Tim Ferry was playing the role of Macho Man Randy Savage. It was nuts! Lost in all of this was Jake Weimer leading the race…on a 250F! Wish you guys could’ve been there, all this night was missing was dancing hippos and flying unicorns. I also half expected a car full of clowns to drive by at any second.

As I’m sure you know, Demuth didn’t win the US Open and that was a real bummer for sure. I really wanted the underdog to win but it was not to be as Michael Byrne crashed into a wall with six laps to go and handed Grant Langston the spot he needed to clinch the victory. It was probably meant to be as GL8 has been on a roll so much his name should be ‘butter’. He added this victory to his just captured 450 outdoor title and the title of ‘Most Well Rounded Motocross Rider In The World’ sounds like it might suit him also. And congrats to Jake Weimer on winning the Main on Saturday night as well.

It was a crazy race that I won’t forget about anytime soon.