Image: Simon Cudby.

Australia’s Chad Reed was left stunned when black-flagged for his clash with Trey Canard during the Anaheim 2 round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross on Saturday night.

Reed was collected from behind and taken down by Canard while running a solid fourth on lap eight of 20 in the main event, which resulted in retaliation that would ultimately knock Canard down for a second time as he adjusted his goggles one-handed.

The Discount Tire Racing/TwoTwo Motorsports team owner and rider was black-flagged almost immediately afterwards, forced to exit the race by FIM and AMA officials in an unprecedented penalty.

“In my mind, obviously I went over the jump there before the mechanics’ area, I was on the inside, and obviously the next minute I’m cartwheeling down the track and Trey landed right on the back of me,” Reed explained.

“So yeah, at that point I’m pretty mad and confused about what went down. So we both pick it up and get going, I throw an elbow, and I get going. I didn’t look back to see if he went down or anything like that. Then I immediately see the black flag and I was just like, kind of just like at a loss for words.

“I’ve never been black-flagged before and especially in a situation like that in a half a lap [after the incident]. Yeah, I admit I threw an elbow, but it was kind of a ‘what the f#$&?’ kind of thing, you know? That’s really about it. I was just confused that I was black flagged for something that I didn’t think was that bad.”

Despite the frustrating collision with Canard and sudden disqualification, Reed was satisfied that he was able to make progress on his bike settings that helped him lap toward the front of the field in the main event.

“The riding was a little better; obviously the last couple of weeks have been rough,” he added. “I’ve been searching, for some reason things that I’m feeling at home I’m not feeling here, or I should say things I’m feeling here I’m not feeling at home.

“It’s been a little bit of, I feel like I’m running the guys in circles a little bit, and I’m not too excited or pumped about that. I felt like in the main event we made a pretty aggressive change in the right direction. All in all we made good progress tonight and I felt like a top five guy.”

A complete interview with Reed, Canard, FIM official John Gallagher and AMA official Kevin Crowther can be found by clicking this link to Racer X Online.