Dan Reardon: Racing Roulette

Reigning Australian Supercross Champion, CDR Yamaha’s Daniel Reardon, speaks candidly about the injuries that derailed his MX Nats season, the mind games that allowed him to get the better of Matt Moss in the 2015 ASX title chase, the knee surgery that’s resurrected his hopes of back-to-back SX titles, and the pros and cons of Australian race teams offering rides to American riders…

TM: Last season marked your comeback, and you won the Aussie SX title. So did you plan on doing the MX and SX double this year?
DR: Well, that was the initial plan. And I came into the season feeling really good. Unfortunately, I had a bunch of problems that derailed my motocross season. That started when I tore some ligaments in my ankle three days before the first round of the MX Nats, which left me in a lot of pain for the first four rounds. Then I had a virus that forced me to miss some mid-season races. And then, after a really positive trip to the States, where I was feeling good and riding fast, I tore my ACL. And that spelled the end of my motocross season. So it was a really up and down time during the MX Nats, but all in all, it’s still been a good year. I’m 100 percent sure I made the right decision to return to the sport, and I’ve loved every moment back in racing circles.

Tell us about the ACL injury.
It happened in the first corner of the first moto at Nowra. When I looked down, I could tell that my knee was dislocated, and the noise it made was ridiculously loud. It’s the first time I’ve done an ACL. The pain is excruciating for the first few minutes, after which it actually disappears. Or it did for me, anyway. So by the time I got over to the RaceSafe truck, I was thinking that maybe it’d be okay. They did a few tests and told me there’s a strong chance I’d torn the ACL. I got scans the next day that confirmed it. The hard part was making the decision about what to do next, because those decisions –whether to get surgery, when to get it, what type of surgery to get – were all dependent on how they’d affect my chances of defending the Supercross title. I’m not 20 any more, so I needed to make a decision based on where I am in my career and what I wanted to achieve.

^ Reardon exits the RaceSafe truck at Nowra’s MX Nationals round…

After your trip to America in July, there was talk that you’d be returning to America for 2017. True? And did that play into your decision-making process?
The month I spent in America was really successful. And it’s no secret that I feel like I’ve got some unfinished business over there. I’m 30 years old, and I figure I’ve got another three, four, five years in the sport. I want to spend that limited time how I want to spend it. And my dream is still to get back to America to race supercross. So I’m trying hard to make that a reality.

Reconstructive knee surgery is not ideal preparation for the Australian Supercross Championship.
No, it has put me behind the eight ball. I spent six weeks off the bike and then started riding two weeks ago. The knee feels great, though. The plan was to only ride my motocross track for my first ride back, but with my supercross track right next door, I couldn’t help myself [laughs]. The biggest challenge for me right now is holding myself back. I know my knee is not 100 percent, so I need to be mindful of that.

Wait on! Only six weeks off the bike after ACL surgery?
It’s generally accepted that an ACL takes six, nine or even 12 months to fully recover. That’s why I decided to take a different direction with the surgery.

Which was?
Well, there are three options with the knee surgery. The traditional option is to take a graft from your hamstring or patella tendon. Or you can get a synthetic ligament. Or you can get a donor ligament. I got a donor ligament, mainly because there’s way les rehab time and you can get back on the bike much quicker. I was cycling 10 days after the operation, and there’s been very little swelling to manage. Admittedly, with the route I chose to take, there’s a slightly higher risk of re-rupturing the ACL, but it’s a risk I’m prepared to take at this point in my career. It’s a calculated risk.

^ Just seven weeks after a knee reconstruction, CDR Yamaha’s Dan Reardon will line up to defend his Australian Supercross title. Can he do it?

Do you know anything about your ligament donor?
No, I don’t. And I’m not sure how that process works. But, look, I’m an organ donor because, if I lost my life, I’d want to give whoever it is as much as I possibly could – ligaments included – if it was going to help the quality of their life.

So has the surgery forced you to recalibrate your expectations for the upcoming ASX Championship?
Not really. There’s nothing the knee stops me from doing on the motorcycle. Going into the series, I will have been on the bike for only four weeks, but then again, I didn’t spend very long off the bike. For my first ride back on a supercross track, I rode for 20 laps at race pace without any problems. In the two weeks since, I’ve done another ten 20-lappers. The knee feels great and there have been no issues with it whatsoever. And I take a lot of confidence from feeling strong and fit.

Who do see as your main threats for the title this year?
Well, Chad (Reed), Ryan Villopoto and Cooper Webb are only racing the final two rounds. So I’d have to say that Wil Hahn and Justin Brayton – the Americans who I believe are racing the whole series – will all be strong contenders.

What’s your take on so many American riders getting rides on Australian teams?
Having the Americans here does two things – it makes my job harder and it lifts our sport. I’m a huge advocate for the sport of MX and SX here in Australia, so I think it’s a good thing. When people say that a race team’s seat should select an Aussie rider first, I think they don’t properly understand the situation. It might sound like the ethically correct thing to do, but from a sponsor perspective, shopping for talent in America makes much more sense. The sport in the USA is massive and the depth of talent there is incredible, whereas the talent in Australia is relatively limited. Having those American guys here will help lift the profile of the sport in a way that everyone stands to benefit from over the longer term. Plus, there’s no doubt that Reed, Cooper and Villopoto will be huge drawcards for Aussie race fans.

No threats from the Australian riders? Your CDR teammate last year, Kade Mosig, finished second to you in the ASX title chase.
Yeah, Kade rode really consistently last season and I expect him to be strong again this year on the Kawi. And it’ll be interesting to see how Todd Waters rides after coming back from a couple of MX seasons in Europe. He’s never afraid to have a go. It all depends on how they build the tracks. If they make them less technical, it brings everyone a lot closer. If they build the tracks more technical, it’ll separate the field. I rate myself as a technically advanced rider, so I hope they build technical tracks. I hope to see the biggest, dirtiest, ugliest-looking whoops, and big, gnarly rhythm sections.

^ Reardon familiarises himself with Jimboomba’s circuit ahead of the 2016 Australian Supercross Championship opener…

Your intense rivalry with Matt Moss generated a lot of headlines last year. With Moss suspended after the positive drug test, will you miss the mind games?
Funnily enough, I kind of will miss having Matt there. I knew there was going to controversy and me and him would butt heads, bang bikes and do what we do. It was interesting because our rivalry split the fans down the middle. People either went for me or for Matt, and that created passion and an incredible atmosphere at the races. In the end, I think my experience played a huge role in helping keep the emotions in check, and me coming out on top. With all the American riders coming over to race this year, I expect I’ll need to draw on that experience again. The harder it is, the more you need to dig deep and find something extra from yourself. And I think this year’s series will bring that out in everybody. I don’t shy away from competition, and I’m really excited about getting stuck into racing and defending my title.

It sounds like there’s going to be some good TV coverage of the series – not just for the AUS-X Open, but for the two Queensland rounds too.
Yeah, that is great news because it allows riders to approach bigger, outside-industry sponsors. It’s all about getting more people involved in the sport, and the TV plays a key role in that. I’ve copped a lot of flack for doing some modelling in recent years, but my goal is to reach out to people, products and sponsors and to be an ambassador for the sport for companies that know nothing about it. I’ve learned that, by stepping outside the industry box we all tend to live in, there are a lot of people who quickly take an interest in the sport and what it can do for their brands. That’s why I’ve got a lot of new people on board with me this year. I hope I can take them all on a successful ride.

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