CHAD REED’S WORLD SX PLANS

What is it about KTM-mounted former champs coming out of retirement this year? First Tony Cairoli and Ryan Dungey. And now Chad Reed!? Okay, Reedy didn’t win any of his SX or MX titles aboard a KTM, but the Austrian brand has been the choice of machinery for the Aussie (and his three kids) for the past two years since retiring from professional racing.

Anyway, you heard that right. Chad Reed is officially coming out of retirement. SX Global (the Australian sports and entertainment company spearheading the FIM World Supercross Championship) announced last week that two-time World Supercross Champion, Chad Reed, will compete for MDK Motorsports aboard a KTM in the upcoming World Supercross Championship (WSX) – not just in front of Aussie fans at the WSX’s Australian round in late October, but right from the get-go when the three-round 2022 ‘pilot’ championship kicks off in Cardiff, Wales, on October 8. Reedy even made a day-trip from the US to Oz last week to attend SX Global’s official announcement about Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium securing exclusive rights to host a round of the WSX for three years – 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Having Reed join the series is a huge coup for the WSX and even bigger news for race fans, many of whom were deprived of watching the Aussie superstar’s final season in the sport due to Covid restrictions. No doubt they’ll be frothing at the opportunity to see the 40-year-old resume bar-banging festivities with the WSX’s star-studded field (the likes of Eli Tomac, Ken Roczen, Justin Brayton, Cole Seely, Dean Wilson, Kyle Chisholm, Max Anstie and Vince Friese, plus Aussies Aaron Tanti, Luke Clout, Wilson Todd) who’ve so far been confirmed as series starters.

But you can’t help thinking there’s more to Reed’s involvement with the WSX than a simple desire to go racing again (in spite of his throwaway Instagram comment that “Retirement is over-rated”, and the fact he’s often talked about wanting to race a supercross main event at age 40). What do we mean by that? Well, Chad Reed is to supercross what Wayne Gardner is to MotoGP: the guy primarily responsible for putting Australian SX racers on the world map AND for creating the opportunity for a world championship round of his beloved sport to be staged Down Under. There’s no way Chad Reed was going to miss out on seeing the seeds he sowed bear fruit! And what better way to witness it than from the thick of the action; from down there on the dirty dance floor?!

“Opportunities like WSX don’t come along every day,” Reed said last week at the Marvel Stadium launch for the series’ Melbourne round. “I’ve seen plenty during my career, but this is super-cool and something I had to be involved in. I’m excited to be here to help launch the Melbourne round and hopefully highlight to everyone around the world how epic this championship is going to be. The WSX Championship going global is the biggest thing to happen to supercross in its history. It’s the beginning of something special that will expand supercross on a global level and give riders different and new opportunities at an international and local level. It opens a lot of doors for everyone.

“I haven’t raced in Melbourne since 2019, so can’t wait to get back here in October and go up against the best current riders in the world. It’s going to be one hell of a 2022 championship,” Reed went on to say, before jumping on a flight straight back to the USA, where’s got three pint-sizes racers depending on his spanner-swinging prowess and a heap of “The Reeds” YouTube content to create!