Features 7 Dec 2017

Rewind: Era of TwoTwo Motorsports

Reflecting upon Reed's privately-run team between 2011 and 2015.

Australia’s Chad Reed has done it all. The guy is always making moves and leaving his own unique mark on the sport each year. For 2018 Reed has indicated he is reverting to a personal program, Team CR22, aboard Husqvarna equipment and at a much smaller scale than his previous TwoTwo Motorsports multi-million dollar program.

So for this latest edition of Rewind, MotoOnline.com.au will take a look back at Reed’s impressive 2011-2015 run with his own private team and look at some of the most memorable moments throughout this time.

Following an already long and successful career as a full-time factory racer in America, Australia’s Reed found himself in a unique situation heading into the 2011 US racing season. Creating TwoTwo Motorsports from scratch, Reed built a world-class private team in order to go racing and also enlisted the services of some of the most highly-rated technicians in the sport.

Aboard a Honda CRF450R with support from Pro Circuit, the former multi-time champion rode to a super impressive second-place finish in the 2011 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship behind Ryan Villopoto. Reed was right there just four points behind the factory Kawasaki rider as he claimed victory in a nail-biting final main event of the year – it was an amazing effort from both Reed and his all-new team.

Image: Simon Cudby.

The 2011 Pro Motocross season saw the Aussie continue his strong form as he led the premier class points chase by 16 points over Villopoto at Millville’s seventh round of the series. Unfortunately everyone remembers that event clearly as the 2009 series champion was seen flying through the air in spectacular fashion as he led the field aboard his now factory-supported Honda.

This was a defining moment for Reed’s 2011 motocross campaign as he never quite recovered from the scary incident. With the incident being dubbed the ‘Chadapult’, Reed had stunned much of the public with his crash and somehow walked away without any serious injuries. This moment, although an unfortunate one, was certainly one of the most memorable from Reed’s time at the helm of TwoTwo Motorsports.

The following season all eyes were on Reed as he entered his second year with TwoTwo Motorsports – he was ready to take home that supercross title and many believed he had a strong chance following his impressive debut in 2011. Unfortunately it would all go wrong at the Dallas round when he was ejected from the bike while sitting second in points to arch-rival Villopoto.

Reed sustained multiple injuries in the crash and saw his title run come to a screeching halt with two broken ribs, a broken T6, a torn ACL and fractured tibia and fibula making up the long injury list. It was an unfortunate way to see the in-form Aussie go out, but it was clear that he wasn’t done yet and would be back for more in the coming seasons.

Fast-forward to 2014 and Reed revealed an all-new look for TwoTwo Motorsports as he made the switch to Kawasaki following a challenging 2013 season with a new Honda CRF450R model. This supercross season proved magical for Reed and his entire crew as he rode to one of the most emotional main event victories of his career inside Anaheim’s Angel Stadium in California.

A fan in the stands that very night, the vibe was electric inside the stadium as Reed rode his Kawasaki KX450F through the field in impressive fashion to claim victory to the delight of the crowd. Reed sliced through the field passing the best in the sport to capture the main event victory, it was something truly special to witness and one of those moments when the Australian was absolutely unbeatable.

Image: Simon Cudby.

Reed then went on to capture a wire-to-wire main event victory again at Anaheim 3, this time keeping Ken Roczen behind him for the entire 20-lap main event. Reed was on fire aboard his new Kawasaki and looking very sharp, but that all came to an end once again at San Diego when he hit the back of Roczen’s KTM in the whoops and suffered a broken scapula, collarbone and T1.

It was a devastating blow for Reed and yet another season that would slip away for the veteran of the sport due to injury. But as always, Reed was determined to bounce back and he returned in 2015 for what would end up being TwoTwo Motorsports’ final season as a team touring the American racing circuit.

Reed returned in 2015, again Kawasaki-mounted, and although it wasn’t an entirely successful supercross series, he captured an impressive main event win inside the Georgia Dome. Reed’s flag-to-flag victory meant he had recorded at least one main event victory each year in the past 11 seasons. That’s one impressive statistic!

Following the 2015 season, Reed would announce that TwoTwo Motorsports was shutting its doors and he returned to factory Yamaha in 2016. What Reed had created and achieved with TwoTwo Motorsports from 2011-2015 was incredibly impressive and something many of us would be able to understand from a distance.

Building the team from nothing, taking on a selection of the best technicians in the sport, capturing multiple victories both in and outdoors and gaining factory support along the way – that’s really something else. He even brought in second riders to the team such as Dean Wilson and Josh Grant, there wasn’t much that Reed didn’t do in his time at TwoTwo Motorsports.

Although Reed is returning with his own smaller program in 2018, we expect to see special things continuing to come out of the TwoTwo’s corner – it may be at a smaller scale, but the guy never fails to impress.

Recent