Chad Reed’s Newcastle Homecoming

For Aussie supercross fans, the fact Chad Reed has been sidelined with injuries sustained at the late-October round of the World Supercross Championship (WSX) in Wales is, understandably, a real disappointment. Because what a treat it would it have been to witness the 40-year-old throw down in front of an Aussie crowd one last time?!

On the flipside, it’s been a bonus for SX fans that Reed has been able to stick around in Oz and do a bit of commentary for Round 2 of the WSX at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium. And better still for Reed’s parochial fans in his hometown of Newcastle, the promoter of the Fox Australian Supercross Championship (ASX) has confirmed that the US-based Aussie legend of the sport will be on hand at this coming Saturday night’s Round 3 of the ASX in Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium to chat with and sign autographs for hometown fans.

Chatting about the ASX in the Transmoto office this week prompted us to reflect on the last time Reedy raced at this Newcastle stadium. Does anyone else remember the occasion, which proved to be a critical turning point in Reed’s illustrious career?

Yep, it was back in 2010, when Chad Reed rocked up in Australia on an eleventh-hour TeamVodafone Honda deal to race the Newcastle round of the 2010 Super X series. It was Reedy’s first return to racing after a disastrous season with Kawasaki, the death of his good mate Andrew McFarlane, and that high-profile bout of Epstein-Barr virus. And despite all the nay-sayers and haters and pundits who were calling Reed washed up and delusional in the lead-up to that 2010 Super X round, Reedy – rocking Fox gear for the first time since the year 2000 in Oz – came out and absolutely brained ’em.

That 2010 win in front of Reed’s hometown fans re-ignited the competitive fire for the then 28-year-old, who as we all know went on to post several more AMA SX race wins (and narrow title losses), own and ride for his own TwoTwo Motorsports race team, and take over (and extend) the record for the most starts in AMA Supercross history (265 of them, just quietly!).

So, let’s revisit the Editorial piece about that memorable night in Newcastle back in 2010; a piece of content that first appeared in Issue #5 ofTransmoto Magazine…