TwoTwo Motorsports’/Bel-ray Racing’s Chad Reed will be vying for victory at this weekend’s St Louis round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross, a critical juncture for the premier class title contenders.

The Australian lost ground at Arlington last weekend when he was spectacularly skittled by rival James Stewart and forced to limp to the finish line with a damaged bike.

Reed took the result on the chin and is still looking at the positives today as he prepares for battle at the Edward Jones Dome, the fourth-last round of the series.

“I dropped points but it was a potential DNF and I pushed on to at least salvage something,” said Reed. “We went from the attacker to defender, and now we’re back in the position of attacker, which suits me fine.

“The track was a tough one last weekend and it was catching a lot of guys out, including James. The layouts have throwing up some really unexpected results so its important to put yourself in a position to score points every night.

“The next four rounds are open stadiums which means the weather can play a part and make it anyone’s race.

“We’re a strong team, we learnt from some of the mistakes from last week and will hopefully bounce back strong here.”

Reed’s 3-point lead was sliced to a 6-point deficit last weekend, and his 8th place finish was the worst of what has been an incredibly-consistent season.

The TwoTwo Motorsports/Bel-ray Racing team owner and rider has stood on the podium on eight occasions in 2011 – one of which has been on the top step.

The five-rider battle that has headlined the most competitive AMA Supercross season for many years continues to rage, with just 19 points separating leader Ryan Villopoto from fifth-placed James Stewart.