When Chad Reed was injured during last weekend’s Dallas round of Monster Energy Supercross, the wind was literally taken out of Australia’s sails right when we looked to be in a prime position for the title.

I say ‘we’ because Australian fans essentially rides on the coattails of Reed when it comes to AMA SX, the pinnacle of the sport we all follow so closely. Today it was confirmed that the TwoTwo is out for 2012, suffering multiple injuries in that crushing Texan crash (see News for the full story).

So where does that leave the sport for Australians? As Chad said to me just last week, not everybody can achieve the results he has (in fact, only the few top riders in the world are truly capable), but that doesn’t mean we as a country should support other leading Aussies any less.

South Australian Brett Metcalfe has the one and only factory Suzuki ride with the Yoshimura team and Cody Mackie has picked up a dream gig with Jeff Ward Racing. In addition, even though he’s injured at the moment, Michael Byrne still rates as one of our most successful ever in the U.S and he’s due for return any week now.

In the Lites class we have an entire team to cheer on in JDR Motorsports, especially since Matt Moss is fresh off his and the team’s first ever podium on the West Coast. When that series returns, he might just be our great hope for consistent rostrums from an Aussie perspective.

As Chad Reed races toward the latter stages of his career, it’s important to realise that we aren’t always going to have him flying the Aussie flag at the front (although hopefully TwoTwo Motorsports will be right up there with an Aussie flavour regardless).

I for one am going to take this as an opportunity to focus on the other Australians in the field on any given race day, appreciating their positions in the sport at such an elite level. While we don’t necessarily overlook them, it’s easy to see that Chad does soak up much of the limelight – and usually deservingly so.

In saying all that though, our best thoughts go out to Chad Reed and the entire TwoTwo Motorsports team through what must be an ultra difficult period. He may be down right now, but there’s no doubt that you can’t rule one of the sport’s best ever out like that.

See you outdoors, 22.