Reed crashed heavily in practice at last weekend's Detroit round and was rushed to a local hospital, where he was diagnosed with a broken and separated shoulder as well as abdominal contusions.
But, to the amazement of the crowd and rival riders, Reed returned to the circuit to race in the main event just four hours later! Despite suffering excruciating pain, he still raced hard to finish in 12th place and maintained his series lead.
It has been an extremely testing week for the 25-year-old, who has been in and out of various treatment facilities, struggling gallantly to make some sort of recovery.
Despite the injuries, Reed has vowed to race this weekend to protect his points lead and achieve yet another career milestone; the Yamaha rider is set to make his 100th career AMA Supercross start this Saturday.
"I do not know how I made it through the main event last week," said Reed. "I have always been able to go out and grit my teeth, but this is the toughest race I have ever been in. When I crashed, I was scared for my life. I just put my head down and went for it. This is a title chase, and I am here to win the championship.
"I'm not going to give up on this - you can mark my words," warned the Australian. "Anybody out there who thinks my championship is over will be in for a rude shock. I intend to make my 100th SX class career start memorable for all the right reasons."
As it stands, Reed's championship advantage over second-placed Kevin Windham has been reduced to just 16 points heading into this Saturday's event at St Louis's Edward Jones Dome.
Reed, a winner of eight Supercross events to date in 2008, has led 143 race laps so far this year, compared with just 23 for Windham.
