Chad Reed’s first appearance racing in Australia for three years at Sydney’s AUS-X Open was a positive one, winning the opening night before storming through the field in the second main event to finish runner-up behind Cooper Webb. MotoOnline.com.au spoke to the Yamaha rider post-race at Allphones Arena about his weekend.

Image: Jeff Crow.

Chad, AUS-X Open, it was a huge weekend with one win and a second, but overall it was an amazing event…

It was amazing, it was a good race. Yesterday was quite an experience to be honest. The fans and what was all going on here in Sydney, I think everyone just feed off on it. It was a blast. There are no negatives out of the weekend. Every time out on the track we learnt a little bit more and just being able to push those limits and find those limits. I’ve been riding quite a bit, but not a lot of testing, only a little bit of testing, but just finding where we are at and really getting a feel for it before Anaheim is really important to us. So I have a good feeling for the overall weekend.

I’ve heard you say in the months leading up for this that you wanted to spend some time at the test track and ride with the younger guys and really focus on intensity. From where we saw you from the start of this weekend to that second main event, your intensity was the highest out there – it looks like it’s going to plan in terms of that.

Yeah, I have made huge changes to my training program. I’ve been working hard on certain things that I feel that I need to do and what I need to be better at. In 2015 we won one race, but I felt like we weren’t where we needed to be. My strengths were no longer my strengths, so we made some big changes. This is only my second race on the Yamaha and already we have come a long way since Las Vegas. All in all I’m really happy to come and bring the parts that we brought with us. It was just a positive weekend really.

To win night one was awesome. Tonight though, bad start, came through the field then Reardon crashed, you did as well and Webb was caught up with you guys. Then you came back through again. You ended up getting on the back of Webb and had a pretty creative last lap, but finished second. Talk us through that last section of the main event.

It all started at the start, to be honest. I just talked to Brooksey, I’m not going to name names, but somebody left something under the thing where they drop the gate. So the first three gates all dropped and from gate four over, it was like six inches where they didn’t go. I kind of killed my start and almost went over the bars going down the start straight, so I had to come back. I felt like I used the laps to my advantage, I used the joker lane to my advantage, and I passed both of them. I was just setting up Reardo and trying to ride away, but he just lost the front and I had nowhere to go. I had to dig back through. Cooper was smart. He picked up on me being better in the whoops and he just covered my line and there was nothing I could do. Then I had to be creative and try and push him to the line. The last five laps I started going into strategy and trying to figure out what I could do. The track was really fun. The only negative was the berms were really short, so it doesn’t allow us to race in together. It becomes more like a rail, so it’s more like follow the leader a little bit. Other than that it was really fun. If they were handing out 25 points, I think we could have won that one, but for me it’s a show. This is all a lot of data for us collected over the weekend. I’ve got a lot of respect for Cooper, there is no need to put him on the ground in an off-season race.

Image: Jeff Crow.

Finally, a popular part of the night was with Ricky Carmichael. Not just the head-to-head battles between you and him, but him being out on track during sessions and even in Superpole on Sunday. He was quick, the crowd seemed to really love it and you seemed to really enjoy it as well, taking on the GOAT in Australia.

It was fun. Ricky and I have had a great history. We definitely had our times were we hated each other, but for the most time we maintained respect. Over the years we have become really close friends and talk a lot and for the most part hang out as a family together. For me, he doesn’t do this; you look at what he has done, he doesn’t go to off-season races and the guy is the GOAT. Truthfully, the guy can go and cash in and get $100,000 start money, but he doesn’t do it or need to do it. This was a situation we needed some star power, he was already coming to Australia for his RCU and the guy stepped up and made it happen. I think the rest of the world is jealous of Australia right now. It’s just a really fun, unique opportunity and I had a blast doing it. Other than the whoops, the guy still has it. I mean when he raced, the whoops were his weakness, that is where I always tried to be better than him, so other than the whoops he still can throw down. He rides a little more than he makes out – he definitely is riding a little bit.