Australian Motocross and Supercross has a lot of thanking to do for Chad Reed, the one guy who has well and truly asserted our country as one of the greatest in the sport in its current era.

Many have ridden the Aussie wave that Reed has created overseas throughout much of this century, and yesterday in Darling Harbour the 28-year-old turned a new leaf in his illustrious career by launching TeamVodafone’s dirt bike effort for this weekend’s Super X opener in Newcastle.

Reed has endured a difficult year so far in the USA during 2010, suffering injuries during Supercross, being struck down with Epstein Barr in Motocross and recently splitting with Kawasaki and longtime apparel sponsor Thor.

But this weekend’s Super X opener could mark a turning point of sorts for Reed, armed with a Pro Circuit-equipped Honda CRF450R and looking forward to what will most likely be his sole appearance of the season as defending dual Super X champion.

Reed doesn’t have a deal in place for 2011 at this point, and admits a career on four wheels is a tempting proposition – a move that’s seemingly one step closer with his new TeamVodafone partnership.

MotoOnline.com.au sat down with the dual AMA/World Supercross and 2009 AMA Motocross Champion for an in-depth 15-minute interview where Reed wasn’t afraid to sound off on everything that’s on his mind.

As always, Reed speaks his mind and makes for one of the best interviewees in all of motorcycle racing around the globe – enjoy!

Chad Reed and TeamVodafone launched a new era in the former world champion's career in Sydney yesterday.

Welcome back to Australia, we’re at the TeamVodafone launch here in Darling Harbour – you must be pretty excited!

Yeah, real excited! It’s been something that I’ve been working on for about a month now actually. My relationship with TeamVodafone has been a little bit under wraps, you know, but I’ve always had a phone provided by Vodafone and last year I did some of their foundation stuff and some of their Red Dust program – they painted two helmets for me and auctioned one off for the aboriginal thing.

So you know, Matt Cousins from Fluid PR has been working his ass off on this thing and finally we were able to pull it off. It’s a great opportunity for me and my career considering where I’m at in my life at this point. I guess also, the bike is mine. I own it from top to bottom and I can put whatever the hell I want on it. It gave me the opportunity to do something unique with the relationship with Vodafone.

Your bike has very few logos on it other than Vodafone and a few minor sponsors, but I noticed you have a whole heap of Pro Circuit parts on the bike…

Yeah, I mean Mitch [Payton] is a guy who I respect and I’ve been working with him since the announcement that Kawasaki and I went our separate ways. I’ve been working with Mitch and Bones back at Pro Circuit in the U.S, and it’s been awesome. I love Mitch and I love being around people that want to go racing the way that I feel you need to go racing.

So you know, I basically just have suspension, clamps, a pipe and that’s about it. This weekend’s going to be quite a different event for me, but it should be a lot of fun.

Definitely one of the things that I always hear about is the fact that I always come to Australia and I have my factory bikes, my factory tyres and my factory mechanics, plus all the other bullshit that comes along with it. So I think this weekend you’ll see quite a different look [laughs].

It’s a bike that’s been put on loan from Honda Australia, which has been kind enough to supply me a couple of bikes for riding. I brought some suspension, a pipe, put a Hinson clutch in it and that’s it – we’re ready to go racing.

I’m feeling good on the bike, even though I haven’t had a lot of time on it. I’m not really worried about it because I’ve been away from the sport for the last three or four months, with very little riding. It’s my hometown and I’m ready to go have some fun.

I noticed you’ve also been riding a Honda back in Florida since the split with Kawasaki, posting a picture on Twitter here and there (catch Chad on Twitter via @CRtwotwo).

Yeah, I bought a Honda about a month ago now, but I don’t know, I guess when I was a kid I heard this kid Daniel Primmer say at a presentation “if you want to win, you buy a Honda” – I want to win! [laughs]. So I went and bought a Honda and we’ll see.

I feel comfortable on the bike, but honestly all the bikes feel very similar. It just comes down to your particular riding style and your needs. Clearly my needs were needed to be met, so I’ve just kinda been looking for that.

And you said on stage that your Super X deal is only for the one weekend at Newcastle, right?

Yeah, I’m only committing to this weekend. You know, I’m at a point in my life and career where I want things on my term and my term only. There’s just been nothing out there that’s rang the bell as much as I really wanted it to.

I had a two-year deal with the team that I was just on, and when I put myself in the position I knew what I was doing, you know it’s a horrible economy and everybody’s hurting budget-wise.

But really I just wasn’t happy and it was no fault of anyone’s, it was just an indifference of me and my relationship with the bike. I just didn’t feel like I got along with it as good as what I had in the past, so really it was just about finding the happiness and going racing for what it is, which is something that you do and you love as a kid.

I didn’t really enjoy racing at all this year, even when I won in Sacramento it was just a bit of a drag. I just want to be happy and race because I love it, not because I have to. So yeah, when the right deal comes I’ll go racing, if not, I’ll work with the TeamVodafone guys a little more and maybe four wheels will come up faster than expected.

Reed had a difficult year with Kawasaki, spoiled by injury and Epstein Barr virus. Image: Sport The Library.

You seem like you’re having fun on the Honda at the moment, so is that something you’re hoping to do in America next year – ride a Honda? Are you currently in negotiations to ride over there or are you seriously on the verge of turning your back on bikes and going V8 Supercar racing?

I mean, for sure if I don’t race next year it won’t be a retirement notice. It’s just the fact of me wanting what I feel it takes to win and be competitive, and I haven’t come across that yet. We’re working hard on it and it’s not over yet, but the time’s ticking and I’m not going to put myself in a position like I did last year where I had very little time with the team and bike, coming in unprepared. So, we’ll see. If the decisions not made in the next couple of weeks then we have some even bigger decisions to make.

I’d love to ride a Honda, and I do really enjoy the bike. There are some parts about it that I enjoy and it’s fun to be able to feel a part of that. So yeah, it’s a good bike. To be honest with you, that bike’s as stock as it comes. It’s got suspension and a pipe on it, but it’s nothing that you can’t go to Pro Circuit and buy from Mitch. And literally, I bought that suspension. Mick hooked me up with some pipes and stuff, but I paid for everything else.

Some of these privateers out there who think they are so far behind the eight-ball really need to ride a factory bike and race it. With a factory bike the unique and cool thing about it is that you can just have it personalized every bit to your liking.

It’s just the little things like how easy it is to find neutral on a production bike compared to a factory bike – that’s really been the only hiccup because I’ve found myself hitting neutral a couple of times. With a factory bike you don’t really have to worry about that because the transmissions are all built for racing. But other than that, everything’s been pretty straightforward and quite a lot of fun.

Speaking of fun, we’ve seen you doing a bit of a fashion show on Twitter over the last few weeks with some pictures you’ve uploaded. Will you be in FOX gear and will Monster Energy still be on your helmet for this weekend?

[Laughs] Well I don’t really have any commitments right now, I mean the only contracts I have are with Alpinestars boots and SCOTT goggles. My Alpinestars deal goes through next year and I believe my SCOTT deal is up at the end of October.

So, you know, I have a plan and a goal in place, but whether it all comes through, who knows. This weekend I’ll have FOX on and I’ll have a Monster logo on my helmet, but there’s no official deal there. It’s more of a thank you to them.

They paid for my deal last year and they put me there, and it was a really difficult decision to make on my part. It’s not as easy just walking away and saying “oh, I’m over it, it’s just not working out”. You feel obligated and you’ve got a company that put their neck out for you, put their trust in you, and in a lot of ways I felt like I failed for them.

But at the end of the day you have to do what’s right for you and what makes you happy. What makes me happy is racing a dirt bike and this weekend I’ll be riding 100 percent on my terms. That Monster logo is just a big thank you to all the guys – Mark Hall and Bruce Stjernstrom – for all their support during 2010. Who knows, maybe next year I’ll still be a Monster guy, but at this point I don’t have any commitments right now.

I guess also with my dress rehearsals, it wasn’t just me being a little girl or whatever. I just think it’s a fun part of the sport. Even you as a racer, you know that there are so many negotiations behind closed doors that noone knows about. They’re so secretive and so covered up that nobody really hears about it unless it’s a rumour – it’s all hearsay and he said, she said.

So, I felt like I had no commitments because I got out of my Thor contract, got out of my Kawi contract and I just wanted to have fun with it. I wanted to show people what really happens. There’s more to racing and more to making decisions on products then just like “hey, I want X amount of money then send me money and I’ll endorse it”.

You know, for me it’s all about finding the best equipment, best helmet, best gear, and to be honest with you that’s why I’ll be wearing FOX this weekend. It’s a great product and one that I know I can just take it straight from production and know that I’m not going to have any issues. That’s kind of it, just having fun with it and showing the fans what life’s about behind closed doors kind of thing.

Well I think everybody appreciates the insight, that’s for sure. This weekend is Newcastle Super X, your race debut with TeamVodafone on a Honda in front of your hometown fans at the home stadium of the Knights NRL team. Can you win considering all the variables entering Saturday night?

This weekend I think I can. I mean, I’ve ridden a little bit, I feel confident on the bike and I have trust in the product. You know, I feel like I can race and give it all I’ve got to have a shot at winning.

I wouldn’t say that I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in and I wouldn’t say that I’m the most prepped that I’ve ever been, but you know, you saw today that we literally only just got everything on there today.

Shit’s happened at the last second and people underestimate that you know. People like Super X, they just think that shit grows on trees and shit happens overnight but it’s not that easy. To race at this level it’s difficult, and like I said, riding on a production transmission and talking to some of the teams about how many hours I need to put on the bike.

It’s just not physically possible for any team out here to supply me with what’s needed to do it week in and week out, so I’ll only be at Newcastle and then priority number one is to get ready for next year and hopefully secure a ride in the future [laughs].

Okay cool, well thanks for your time, we look forward to seeing you get it done at Newcastle on Saturday!

Alright, no worries bud. Thanks!

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