Image: Simon Cudby.

Anaheim 1 couldn’t have gone much better for Australian great Chad Reed, limping to 15th position and a reasonable haul of points in the main event despite still recovering from an off-season ankle injury.

Reed, entering his 17th-consecutive season in the US, was satisfied with the result on debut with him low-key Team CR22 program, equipped with Husqvarna machinery and with Mike Gosselaar in his corner.

Opting to remain in California for much of this week to carry out vital rehabilitation on his injury sustained at the Red Bull Straight Rhythm in October, Reed will be aiming to progress this weekend in Houston despite spending minimal time on the bike or training while recovering.

“Right now the priority is not training,” 35-year-old Reed told PulpMX.com post-race. “You’re inner demons, the racer self says ‘lets get fit’, but even if I’m fit I’ve still got to be able to take the pain and whatever. I want that pain to go away and I want range of motion to come back, then I’ll go from there.

“You look at the big picture, I’m not going to get any fitter between now and next weekend, but I’m really confident that I can work my ass off on getting my ankle better, so that’s where my effort and my energy is going.”

Reed said that while the 20-minute main event was a challenge, it is the seat time endured throughout practice, qualifying and the heat race that provides the largest of problems on a race weekend. Still, A1 was a decent result all things considered.

“I’m happy making it here,” he added. “Obviously the hard thing is actually practice and qualifying for the main event. Once you get into the main event, it’s like whether you’re in shape or not, it’s a suffer-fest. It’s what it’s about.

“It’s just getting to the main event is just a shit show. It’s like, ‘can we bypass this and go directly to the main?’. I’m really proud and I’m proud of my guys – individually we all worked hard in such different ways. We crushed it.”