A little thing like a fractured shoulder blade isn’t going to slow down a tough guy like Monster Energy AMA Supercross star Chad Reed.
The 2004 series champion, injured April 12 in a crash during a race at Ford Field in Detroit, is still hanging on to his Yamaha bike and the series points lead after two gutsy — and painful — races.
“It was just one of those freak accidents,” Reed said Tuesday in a telephone interview from his home in Tampa, Fla., where he is undergoing intensive rehab. “I had a small mistake and then I was on the ground.”
The crash came during practice and the 26-year-old from Australia was taken in an ambulance to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a broken shoulder blade and scapula and a separated shoulder.
Four hours later, Reed was back at the stadium, ready to use a provisional qualifying rule to race in the main event. He finished 12th, scoring much-needed points.
Supercross is a series of laps on a dirt track — usually indoors — that includes several sections of bumps that appear to act like long washboards and lots of jumps that send the riders majestically into the air and then slam them back to earth.
Ouch!
Reed won’t back down.
He was back on his bike in St. Louis just seven days after the accident, finishing second to Kevin Windham, the rider chasing him for the title. With races remaining Saturday night in Seattle and on May 3 in Las Vegas, Reed, who led by 27 points heading into Detroit after winning eight of the first 13 events, is just 13 points ahead.
“It’s still a little bit rough,” Reed explained. “I’ve just been trying to rehab, trying to get back up on top of it. But, in seven days, we made some huge progress and were able to get on the podium last weekend, so it’s definitely looking more promising for us than it did (in Detroit).”
Steve Astephen, Reed’s agent, called his rider “a warrior.”
“He’s doing everything he can, with the right doctor and the right therapist,” Astephen said. “He flew everybody out last week and is planning to do the same thing this week. But the amazing thing is that he’s doing all this with a broken shoulder blade and shoulder damage. He’s got an amazing pain threshold.”
While competing, pain medication is pretty much out of the question.
“It’s pretty limited,” Astephen said. “There are some numbing creams and some holistic things he can do. But you need to feel it. You can’t afford to be so numb that you make the injury worse without realizing it.”
Reed said there was never any doubt in his mind that he would continue racing through the injury.
“For me, it’s more pride,” he said. “No amount of money can make me do things. It comes from within. I really, really want to win this championship and I’ve worked really, really hard for it.
“Ever since I was a kid, this is all I ever wanted to do. Basically, when I (crashed), I had three races to go. I just put my head down and said, ‘I can make this happen.’ It’s definitely going to hurt, but I think it would hurt a lot more to go home and watch something that I’ve worked so hard for slip away from me.”
It’s not the first time he has had to deal with an injury, although none this serious.
“I’ve definitely had my fair share of injuries,” Reed said. “But I’ve been pretty lucky to keep it pretty minimum.
“It’s a tough sport and can be very dangerous. But, at the end of the day, there’s one guy on that bike and one guy turning the throttle. A lot of the crashes come from learning and pushing the limits. Unfortunately, we don’t have rollcages or anything like that. Our limits result in a crash and us hitting the ground. You learn very quickly.”
Reed said he’d like to stay in supercross and motocross, its summer cousin, for at least a few more years. Somewhere down the road, he’d like to follow the lead of Ricky Carmichael, the all-time leading winner in supercross and motocross, and take a shot at racing on four wheels.
Carmichael, driving for longtime racing star Ken Schrader, made his NASCAR Camping World East Series debut last Saturday at Greenville-Pickens and finished sixth.
“That’s pretty awesome for him,” Reed said. “He actually made the race and finished inside the top 10. I’m definitely keeping a close eye on it and I’m rooting for him. He’s not my competitor anymore and I definitely want to see somebody come from our sport and do real well.
“I’m having fun, but eventually I’d like to make the transition into racing cars. I have a huge passion for going fast and just challenging myself with things like that. So, definitely, I’m going to kind of follow Ricky’s move, whether NASCAR or going back to my native country Australia and racing some V-8 Super Cars or something like that. We’ll see where the cards fall for me.”
For now, though, he has some business to take care of in this year’s supercross series — no matter how much it hurts.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
