Chad Reed to rejoin Yamaha?

In the wake of GEICO Honda’s announcement last weekend that they’ve signed Eli Tomac to ride their CRF450R next season (despite huge-dollar offers from Kawasaki, Yamaha and RCH teams), the AMA silly-season is now in full swing.

One rumour that’s gained momentum in recent weeks is that Chad Reed will not only be returning to Australia later this year to race the 2013 Australian Supercross Championship, but that he’ll be aboard a Yamaha. What the? Well, apparently, Yamaha has offered Chad’s TwoTwo Motorsports team more factory support than Honda has, and the Aussie rider cum team owner is seriously considering rekindling his ties with the blue factory.

Given that Honda will have tied up big 450-class bucks in both Team Honda Muscle Milk and GEICO Honda for season 2014 (in other words, they’ve locked down Barcia, Canard and Tomac), it makes sense that the 31-year-old Reed and his TwoTwo Motorsports team might have been left on the outer to come extent when it comes to factory support from Honda. Plus we all know that Chad has always had a soft spot for Yamaha, having spent a majority of his time in America on blue bikes. It is also widely known that Chad has retained a very close relationship with Yamaha USA’s main man on the race scene, Keith McCarty. Reed last raced a Yamaha in 2008 when he won that year’s AMA Supercross title.

Transmoto contacted Reed and his management about the rumours, but we are yet to get a response. Chad has made it known, however, that his Shift and Fox contracts are up for renewal. As Reed has played a key role in the revitalisation of Shift in the past couple of years, the talk is that he’s likely to stay with the brand. Stay tuned.