Chad Reed has said his TwoTwo Motorsports/Bel-Ray Racing team can hold its head high after a successful debut year despite the disappointment of falling short of an outdoors title.

As the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross championship heads to Pala raceway for the twelfth and final round of the series, the Aussie has third place in the series wrapped up.

Despite a lacklustre run of results in the latter half of the season, Reed still holds bragging rights for overall wins, notching up four early on as he surged to a double digit points advantage.

Now 65 points behind second placed Rockstar Makita Suzuki rider Ryan Dungey, the 2009 outdoors champion admitted he had lacked the pace of the leaders in the second half of the season, but said his team could be proud of their efforts this year.

“We were up against it from the start but the Supercross season showed that when you surround yourself with the right people and are on the right bike, you can get it done,” said Reed.

“We had a dream start to the outdoors and felt as though we were in with a real shot at the championship.

“Spring Creek put a dampener on that but what hurt the most was trying to get that confidence and pace back over the next few rounds – it let the two Ryan’s close in and build the momentum which they currently have.

“Third is still a solid effort and the team at TwoTwo Motorsports can hold their heads high after this season and 2011 as a whole.

“We’ll give it everything this weekend to say thanks to all of the fans – old and new – that have spurred us on this year.”

Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Ryan Villopoto currently leads the 450 class points standing coming into Pala, with Dungey trailing by 14 points.