Chad Reed and Nathan Ramsey spent their Thursday with the press for the second week in a row. Last week at press, Reed spoke about feeling back to his normal self and just working on breathing. Out in the pits after the TV cameras went home, he got a call on his cel phone - Jason Thomas just lost his points and his earnings from Anaheim 2 over fuel, just like he did nearly 3 years ago.
As things would turn out, it would be a long week at Yamaha, because Josh Hill got DQ'd on fuel, and so did Nick Wey. Reed wasn't affected this time, but he knows the feeling for sure.
Reed and Ramsey met with several big Southern California newspapers this afternoon (Thursday), and held a long, relaxed chat session over lunch. Media turnout was very good, including some international media that got to spend some quality time with Chad - something that's hard to do on a race day.
Topics covered competition in supercross of course, and the Stewart question - When does Reed think he will beat Stewart, and what is Stewart doing? "Confidence is a big deal," said Reed, giving his rival credit, "At the first round he was night and day better than anyone. He was on his game."
"I think we can beat him," he said, "I really feel that I can win, and win this title. That is why I am here."
Reed joked a little about the perfect season business. "San Francisco was a nice surprise for everyone," he said, "People were already talking perfect season and all that crap. The three of us were pushing it. We all got a great start and we all went for it and made mistakes. That shows that we were giving it everything we had.
A perfect season. That's a big task. Ricky has done it twice. I was there. That was hard to watch."
Reed and Ramsey both said they have grown to prefer today's 450s and see them getting even better. "The bike is fine," said Reed, "Maybe its hard to ride but it's the same for everyone. We are just making them more rideable. They are getting better and better every year. They turn better. They handle better. They are getting lighter by the year. Its just technology. Some people think if two strokes were around we would be closer, but I personally don't think so."
So of course the meeting wouldn't end without some comments on fuel. You know the story already. "I have been there done that," said Reed, "I know my team was not cheating at the time.
We all get fuel tested. Every time before fuel goes in our bike it is tested. The worst thing from a rider's or a team's point of view is - it is passing. It's OK. The AMA is going to a different lab and this year they changed labs without anyone knowing. They are coming back different than what everybody else is getting.
I don't believe there is any advantage. I don't think anybody is cheating. From what happened last year, with the Ricky situation, and if is were to happen to me (now), I would be ready to go to Australia, hang out down there, do race cars or something. They can't go back and make a rule after last year, the way they dealt with it last year. I think they need to come up with a spec fuel, and let's go race.
The labs are different, and what makes it worse is they say you can't appeal it."
