Australian great details the situation after finishing P9 in Seattle.
Source: Supplied.
Two-time Monster Energy AMA Supercross champion Chad Reed has settled his differences with defending title-holder Ryan Dungey during a conversation held in Seattle on Saturday, remaining adamant that he didn’t purposely hold Dungey up in St. Louis.
Reed was fined $5000 ($6500 AUD) and docked five points after baulking Dungey in round 13, however he’s declared that he does not accept the penalty of series race director John Gallagher and is considering taking further action.
The Monster Energy/Yamalube/Chaparral/Yamaha Financial Services/Yamaha rider spoke in-depth about the controversial incident post-race over the weekend after finishing ninth in the main event. He was affected by a rear brake problem during the final, forced to pit in the mechanics area for repairs on his way to a top 10.
“For me, I think the penalty, I don’t accept it,” Reed stated. “I don’t know that this is the end of it and I feel like at some point, somebody has to make a stance. There’s an individual that’s made calls that, in my opinion, are always aimed at me. Like the black-flag, 100 percent unsustainable, never is going to happen again. He called it malicious, he called it retaliation… why did Zach Osborne not get DQ’d from Indy? Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s 100 percent retaliation. Nothing happened.
“I have 200-plus main events and of those, I’ve been involved good and bad with lappers. Sometimes they work with you, sometimes they work against you. Our sport has been decades and decades of comments from commentators or riders – all of the above – about them impeding your progress. The lap-times don’t lie. He did 53s the whole time he was behind me and then dropped into the 54s, 55s the whole time he was behind the Millsaps/Barcia battle, so on paper he lost more time from them, but they didn’t receive fines. It’s not acceptable and I don’t accept it. I think it’s time that someone takes a stance and makes it right.”
Reed said he saw the blue flags waving as Dungey approached, but opted to focus on his way progression on a circuit that he said was difficult to purposely move out of the way without losing major time. Since St. Louis he his primary focus has been not to become a lapped rider again.
“Obviously I seen [the blue flags],” he explained. “The initiation of it, I seen them and I looked to my left… Carlos [Rivera] was going crazy, pretty much trying to hit me with the pit-board, so for me, I took a look and he wasn’t to my left and I was just thinking, like he was right on me. When I basically figured it out, then I looked to my right and he wasn’t on me – he was like four or five bike-lengths back. I kind just put my head down and tried to continue to make progress with my own personal race.
“In particular, it was a very one-lined race-track and there wasn’t a whole lot of… it wasn’t like you could move off the racing line and not give up a whole lot of time. It wasn’t a friendly track to be a lapper and very few times I’ve been a lapper. I never want to be there. I think the bigger picture is that I was pissed off that I was back there and this week I focused on never being back there again.
“I don’t have a problem with Ryan, I really don’t, and there’s no issue with Ryan and I. We talked today and the conversation was the extent of the build-up, the frustration. But the frustration that I had with him, even in our conversation, it was kind of mutually agreed that I wasn’t trying to jack him. I never swerved, I never tried to pass him back and, you know, I think it got massively blown out of proportion.
“We had a little beef going and I just think that his world was closing in on him… for me I never took any of that personally, because I’ve been there. You’ve been around and you’ve seen it all – I’ve made comments that I don’t agree with today or if you could take them back or say them differently, you would. That’s really it and that was the extent of our conversation. He appologised for a few things and that’s it.
“I honestly didn’t do anything to jack his race, other than to continue to race forward and do my own race. If you reverse the role and 100 percent it’s rolling out and the way it’s happening, I think I would probably make the same comments that he did. I’ve been there in that exact position and, like I said, I don’t have beef with him, I’m not mad at him and I completely understand it. I think our conversation today made it clear to me what I believed and what I thought to be true.”
Reed labelled his season so far ‘pathetic’ with a best result of second in Phoenix being the high point, but an average finishing position of 10.9 as the series winds down. He’s currently ranked 10th in the championship standings.
“It’s been pathetic,” said Reed. “It’s been one of the most frustrating… actually, I think the most frustrating ever. You know, when you look at the big picture it was a great off-season for me and I honestly entered Anaheim thinking and believing that I had a shot at winning races and being on the podium week after week. It’s been everything but that. I don’t know, you kinda want the current run to end and you want that breakthrough ride, because there’s been a lot of Sundays and Mondays that haven’t been that fun. You kinda know what the problem is, but you just keep your head down and keep trying to truck away.”
Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 3:32PM 
