Yamaha Motor Australia press release:

Yamaha’s Dan Reardon charged home at the fifth and final round of the Australian Supercross Championship to claim third at the final round and third in the Australian SX1 (450cc) championship after mixing it with the world’s best on Saturday night.

Reardon, who specialises in supercross, has struggled to put his best foot forward consistently in this years’ championship but was in full stride on the weekend as he flew the Australian flag in the SX1 class against a star-studded international line up including world champion, Jason Anderson, Dean Wilson, Justin Brayton as well as local legend, Chad Reed.

The 32-year old Queenslander was on song from the moment he hit the track posting fast lap times during the practice and qualifying sessions on Friday afternoon. Then things got real serious on Saturday when he threw down the fastest lap in the Superpole event and he was confident of a good showing in the three 10 lap main event with 14,000 fans on hand to cheer the Aussie on.

Final one and Reardon didn’t get the start he needed but quickly moved inside the top five in the early stages. He was able to gain a spot when Reed went down and he crossed the finish line in fourth place.

The second final saw Reardon at his best when he charged into the lead and led the field around for the opening laps. It wasn’t until Jason Anderson used the Shannon’s Shortcut lane to sneak by and snatch the lead away. Then, Reardon pulled the trigger on the short cut lane just two laps later and as he re-entered the track was bar to bar with Anderson and just metres in front of Wilson as the trio had cleared out from the pack. Anderson was able to just keep a hold of the race lead and they would finish that way with Anderson, Reardon and Wilson taking the top three spots.

Another great start had Reardon well placed inside the top three of the final race of the night. Reed charged to the front via the Shannon’s Shortcut but was later penalised as he already used it in race two and was dropped outside the top five. Reardon finished the race in a comfortable third place and his combined 4-2-3 results were good enough to take third on the night and bump him up to third in the championship.

“I love racing here in Sydney and these indoor style of events,” Reardon explains from the podium. “Having international riders like Jason and Dean here inspires me to race at my best and I really enjoyed being in the battle with them tonight.

“Dean ran it up on me a few times during the night and he could have punted me a few times but I thank him for going easy on me and its always amazing racing when Chad is on the track. The atmosphere at this event is amazing and its cool to have so much fan interaction during the pit party.

“Thank you to AME and the other promoters for such as successful 2018 championship and I have really enjoyed this years’ series. I decided to do things a little differently this year and I have had a really good time at the races with a group of people who love going racing.

“Michael Marty has put in plenty of time and ensured my bike was in great shape every race and I thank everyone from Yamaha, DR Homes, Boost Mobile, Fasthouse, Dunlop and Oil Piping Systems who have backed my dream this year. It’s been fun,” Reardon continued.

Reardon finished third in the series with round results of 4-5-3-5-3 racing basically a standard YZ450F with firmer suspension suited for the rigors of supercross racing.

“When I started putting this together, I really wanted to be on Yamaha as it’s the bike I feel most comfortable on and also the one I knew needed the least to make it competitive. Yamaha with the GYTR and Yamalube products were all I needed to make a bike good enough to race at this level and everyone who chipped in were passionate about assisting me and going racing.

“ I learnt a lot about what goes on behind the scenes in a race team and how time consuming it can be. I appreciate the role people play in a race team more now than I did before this began and I appreciate the support given to me this year. I’m not getting any younger but racing events like the weekend and having positive people in my corner has been great for me and if Chad can keep racing at age 36, then maybe I can too,” Reardon laughs.