Chad Reed is content with his fourth place finish at Anaheim, but will work towards improving his result for round two. Image: Simon Cudby.

TwoTwo Motorsports’ Chad Reed will maintain his focus on the 2013 Monster Energy Supercross, an FIM World Championship, title following a steady fourth place finish at Anaheim 1’s season opener over the weekend.

While title favourite and defending champion Ryan Villopto floundered with a 16th place finish, Reed racked up a solid haul of 18 points, which could prove vital at season’s end in May.

Former Monster Energy Supercross Champion Reed made a number of setup changes throughout practice before finishing seventh in his heat race to transfer himself into the main event.

After a fifth place start in the final, Reed kept pace with the front-runners over the opening laps of the race. While the first four started to pull a gap, Reed continued to lap consistently and moved up into fourth after Honda Muscle Milk’s Justin Barcia went down in the whoops on lap 17.

Upon exiting the opener with his fourth place ranking, Reed acknowledged it was important to start the season with a good point-scoring result, however he knows there’s work to do for him to elevate himself into title contention.

“We have come away with some good points tonight, but I wasn’t entirely happy with my result,” Reed admitted. “There are 16 races ahead and tonight was about seeing where we all stacked up.

“I wanted to come away with some good points and we achieved that. It is great to have the first race in the can, we now know what work we have to do ahead of Phoenix.”

Reed and his TwoTwo Motorsports team will now prepare for next weekend’s second round of the 2013 Monster Energy AMA Supercross at Phoenix’s Chase Field.