Chad Reed battled through the field to finish fifth at Daytona. Image: Simon Cudby.

TwoTwo Motorsports Chad Reed has finished fifth in an action-packed Monster Energy Supercross at Daytona International Speedway.

The Australian set the fastest lap time in qualifying, but a first lap clash in his heat race, left Reed at the back of the pack. Impressively the TwoTwo Motorsports rider came through from dead last to finish the heat race fifth.

Reed got a good start in the 20-lap 450SX main event and quickly worked his way into the top five, a mistake on lap nine saw him go down and drop two spots.

As the ruts deepened, the Daytona track claimed a number of seasoned scalps, but the crowd were treated to the Reed of old, as he stormed past James Stewart, Ken Roczen and fellow Honda rider Trey Canard over the closing laps of the race.

“On paper that was not the result I was hoping for but there were still plenty of positives,” Reed said. “The bike was fast and it felt good to be able to get back up, race hard and move up through the order in both my heat and the main.

“It was crazy out there, the track was gnarly and the ruts just got deeper, every lap there was someone off. I felt good tonight and I was competitive, we will take a lot out of tonight.”

The next event will see the Monster Energy Supercross head to Indianapolis Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday, 16 March.