Updated 4:30pm Pacfic Time, Friday February 24: Last week may have marked the biggest change so far in the 2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series. Not only did Ryan Villopoto ride away with his third win in a row, but his closest competitor, Chad Reed, crashed out of the race and the series.
The Dallas Supercross 20 lap main event was shaping up to be one of the best of the season. Villopoto and Reed both had great starts and were in first and second by the end of the first lap. As the laps clicked off something became apparent: Reed was riding faster than Villopoto. With the race nearing the halfway point, Reed looked poised to set-up a pass. Making up fractions of a second per lap, Reed was soon right on Villopoto’s rear wheel and the number 22 Honda seemed to be aware of the sections in which he was quicker. Heading into the sand section, where Chad had been making up time, the two riders were very close to one another, and then something went wrong.
Chad had been one of the only riders tripling into the section, but this time around, his bike did not level out in the air as it should have. Instead the front end dove just enough to send Chad and his bike violently to the ground when the front wheel touched down.
Villopoto would go on to to take an unchallenged win. Reed, on the other hand, suffered one of the worst injuries in his professional career: broken ribs, a broken tib/fib, torn ACL, and a broken vertebrae. He will be out for at least the remainder of the Supercross series.
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