Image: AUS-X Open.

Newly-crowned Australian supercross champion Justin Brayton was taken out of contention on lap one of Sunday’s AUS-X Open main event before clawing his way back to third position.

Eventual race winner, local fan favourite Chad Reed, made contact with the Honda Genuine Racing rider in the tight first turn, bumping him to the rear of the talent-packed 12-rider field.

Brayton put a charge on from there to steal the final place on the podium from Ryan Villopoto in the closing laps, ultimately shrugging off the clash with Reed post-race at Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday evening.

“I don’t really know, other than that I didn’t do anything,” Brayton told MotoOnline.com.au. “I had the holeshot and Reed just came into me and shoved me off the track – it’s pretty simple I think. It’s alright, it is what it is.

“I felt like I was riding really well tonight, so no-one can really take that away from me. To came from last to third was cool, it made the race pretty exciting for me – it was a challenging track to pass on. It was fun, other than the first turn incident. Yeah, there’s not much I can say about it.”

Stopping short of saying he would’ve gone on to win the second main event of the weekend if it weren’t for the topical opening lap incident, Brayton is adamant he would’ve been able to challenge for a victory to cap off the season.

“I felt like I was pretty good all day with being fastest in practice, getting Superpole and then I just felt like a holeshot in the main, then I would’ve had the win,” he continued. “You never know for sure, but that’s what I had my mind set on. Once I went down, obviously I had to charge back, not give up and yeah, coming back to third was pretty cool.”

The Reed/Brayton match-up was a highlight of the weekend at this year’s AUS-X Open, including a thrilling duel in the Australia vs USA feature race that was won by Reed in a determined pass through the sand-filled tunnel section of the circuit.

Brayton was the class of the entire Australian Supercross Championship season, winning the opening three rounds at Jimboomba, Toowoomba and Adelaide, before rounding out the series with fourth at Avalon and going 2-3 in Sydney.