USA Insider No.163: Trey And Chad

Transmoto’s weekly web-exclusive column, the USA Insider, penned by Jason Weigandt, presented by Ipone.

Trey Canard and Chad Reed couldn’t have looked any more differently after the race last Saturday. After a wild night in Anaheim, where Canard crashed into Reed, and Reed retaliated by running into Trey — which flipped him over a tuff block — the vibe in each camp was much different. Canard was all anger and frustration when he finally emerged from his Team Honda rig. If looks could kill, a bunch of reporters would have been dead. This is especially impressive considering I didn’t see Trey until a good 40 minutes after the Main Event ended. He was still that steamed!

Trey’s normally a well-mannered guy, but I know from behind-the-scenes stories that he can be very hard on himself, and the bottom line is that he had finished 8^th and 11^th in the first two races. There are circumstances behind each — starts, and then this Reed business – but that doesn’t make an 11^th an easier to swallow for someone as competitive as Trey. He was mad, but he was willing to talk, though, and even told us that he called Reed a crybaby.

But over in Reed’s Discount Tire/TwoTwo camp, Reed wasn’t crying much. In fact, he didn’t seem mad, sad, or even very upset. He said he was really just confused. In his eyes, all he did was give Trey a little bump, and that wasn’t, as FIM Official John Gallagher called it, “malicious,” and certainly not worthy of a black flag. How many times have we ever seen a rider get the black flag in a supercross while battling for a position in a Main Event? Never. Not once.

But while Trey was mad and Chad merely confused after the race, they flipped it around during the week. Trey went to social media to put it all behind him, saying it was over. Chad, though, has apparently been getting his lawyers in place. For what? I’m really not sure, but he’s been hinting at something big within the sport. What it is and if it will come is really just a guess.

By Saturday, though, they’d both put it behind them. Trey has moved on, Reed has left the Anaheim 2 incident to the business people. They were merely just racers again, and what racers they were — they suddenly rode better than they had all season! Combine that with Ken Roczen’s mega case/face job and 15^th place finish, and this season looks much more wide open than it did a week ago. Can Canard challenge for the points lead? Can Reed win races? Somehow after a real low point for both, came a high that can power them for the rest of the season.