Welcome to a special U.S. edition of the Moto Insider column, coming direct from America following MotoOnline.com.au’s attendance of the Freestone AMA Pro Motocross round in Texas. This week, we’ll focus on what we know over here, looking back on a brilliant weekend of racing and also predicting what’s to come according to our sources in the know.

Australia's Chad Reed has been phenomenal in the opening two rounds of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship. Image: Alex Gobert.

• Chad Reed’s form in the opening two rounds of the nationals has been nothing short of amazing, winning two from two to kick-start his season. Looking up close at his factory TwoTwo Motorsports Honda CRF450R, you can see it’s basically identical to the factory bike of Kevin Windham (who is riding in place of Trey Canard and Josh Grant at the moment). There’s still a few Pro Circuit parts to be seen, but it is an awesome bit of kit. And the best news? We were able to snap a selection of shots up close for an ‘Inside Chad Reed’s TwoTwo Motorsports Honda CRF450R’, which will be uploaded this week.

• Granted, Reed’s win at Freestone was gifted to him in some ways when Ryan Dungey’s bike stopped in the final laps of moto two with a fuelling issue, however CR didn’t waste any time in rubbing it in to the Suzuki crew following the post-race press conference – offering Goose an extra 10 bucks to fill the tank next time after rumours had circulated that the Dunge ran out!

• I mentioned it in a column the other day, but I’ll say it again – Tye Simmonds deserves huge props for his performances so far in the outdoors. He has been consistent and will improve as the year progresses, saying after Freestone that his fitness wasn’t quite where he needed it for now. But, considering he’s the lone rider in the huge JDR/J-Star/KTM transporter, you have to give him credit for stepping up when the pressure is on.

• In speaking to JDR Motorsports’ Jay Rynenberg in Texas, he said that there’s every chance the team will expand for the 2012 season with an additional 450 Class rider in both supercross and motocross. The team has been struck by a string of injuries this year, with PJ Larsen’s wrist injury meaning they don’t have anybody in the 250 Class at the moment for the nationals.

• One rider who was itching to get out on track at Freestone was Queenslander Brenden Harrison, who was on hand visiting the JDR team and riding in California for a few weeks to prepare for Coonabarabran. Harrison was keen to ride, and Rynenberg admitted it probably would have been a good idea if they had planned it earlier.

Everybody loves a holeshot, with this one for Brett Metcalfe coming as a nice confidence booster in Moto 2. Image: Alex Gobert.

• After missing much of supercross through injury, I was uncertain how Brett Metcalfe would adapt back to racing outdoors with Suzuki. Even though his competitors have been riding supercross for the past few months, racing is racing and Metty was expected to take a little time to get back into the swing of things. Well, two rounds in and he’s got a fifth at Hangtown and then a fourth a Freestone, so I guess the next step is the podium at High Point and that’s exactly what he said he’s aiming for. Metcalfe actually went to Texas early to acclimatise to the heat, however that plan backfired when his practice bike suffered a mechanical during the week…

• One thing you don’t realise from back in Australia is the size of the teams these guys are actually on. Yeah, we always hear how Michael Byrne’s on a private team, but it’s a pretty big operation that looks to be on par with the Aussie teams as far as the sheer size of it goes. What we did hear though is that much of the money is put into the presentation, rather than the bike’s development. Either way though, expect Byrner to be a regular top 10 guy as the season heads east, with a few top fives thrown in for good measure.

• A little known Aussie in Dean Porter is also over here for the AMA series, and he actually did a nice job in the heat at Freestone to qualify and take 21-18 results. It was a solid performance in a tough day, so well done to him and we’ll try to track his progress all year long.

• Mike Alessi was absent from Freestone after his qualifying crash at Hangtown, but his Red Bull KTM 450 SX-F was there and it looks absolutely awesome in its factory guise. Many were impressed with Mike’s form at the opener before his crash, predicting he’s going to do some damage this year when he returns. The word is he’ll be back for High Point next weekend.

• With sand imported into Freestone in the lead-up to the round, the best conditions of the entire weekend seemed to be in the first practice session at the beginning of the day. Reedy was first out and set the quickest lap of the session, but Dungey did manage to better it in the next session when the track formed up a little better. So many were pumped on the sand that was mixed in mix the regular soil, looking as though it was the ultimate race track from the very first lap of practice.

• After being so used to watching the Aussie nationals in the cool conditions, it was interesting to see some of the ways the U.S. teams went to avoid the heat. While most of the top guys were in their motorhomes all day long, they also had cool baths set up and cool vests in a bid to lower body temperatures before each moto.

JDR/J-Star/KTM's Tye Simmonds is already having more fun outdoors than what he did during supercross. Image: Alex Gobert.

That’s all for this week, thanks for stopping by and we look forward to providing more insights this week and next as we continue to tour the U.S – heading back to California tomorrow.