Chad Reed may have lost the war, but he has at least won the final battle of the 2005 AMA Supercross season by taking victory on Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium, in front of 39,106 fans.
It was the Australian’s fifth victory of the year and came after both he and new champion Ricky Carmichael had been pushed wide at turn one, leaving them fifth and seventh respectively, while Honda’s Kevin Windham broke away up front.
By lap six Carmichael had moved into third, but was almost 15-seconds down on Windham and 8-seconds behind Reed. The Floridian upped his pace latter in the race as both he and Reed began to catch Windham - and both would move ahead of the four-stroke rider when he fell in the whoops section on lap 15 of 20. Windham recovered for third.
"Things worked out well tonight," said Reed. "I wanted to win this race and end the season on the high note. I learned a lot this year about myself as a person and as a leader. The team worked really hard this year, and we held our chins up high."
"No excuses - I got my butt kicked tonight by Chad and Kevin and I was lucky to get second. Kevin was riding real well and he was unlucky, but for me it's been a great year," said RC, who claimed a 100% podium record for the season.
"I thought I was riding good tonight, but not good enough and I should have been third. I'm a bit disappointed but I'll take my 'ass-whipping' like a man I suppose!" smiled Ricky. "I'm now looking forward to the opening AMA National at Hangtown as we still have a lot to prove."
However, one big name absent from the 250cc Las Vegas results was James 'Bubba' Stewart, the Kawasaki star - who has been the man to beat since returning from an early season arm injury - being forced to miss the main event after damaging his thumb in a heat race fall.
Meanwhile, in the Dave Coombs Sr. 125cc East/West Shootout, KTM’s Jay Marmont earned the Butterfinger Holeshot Award with Yamaha’s Brock Sellards and Suzuki’s Davi Millsaps in tow.
