Chad Reed has spoken on why after just one successful season he ended up leaving Suzuki and going to an ill-fated time of factory Kawasaki.
Speaking on PulpMX Chad said: “Yamaha, the only reason I left was that Larry Brooks got shady and hired James Stewart behind my back, I had all intentions of staying. Then I went to Suzuki and I loved it…but then it was the 08/09 downfall and they didn’t have any budget. I went from a $3 million contract to all they could offer me was $750K…and so Monster stepped up and basically paid my entire salary at Kawasaki. The bike / team didn’t gel well with me, but RV was doing good and they made some bike improvements after I left and RV went on to win 4 straight championships”
But Chad did say Roger de Coster missed an opportunity to get him as a teenager which forced him to go to Europe – but it is a experience he now treasures.
“I came here (USA to race San Diego) when I was 16 years old and Roger de Coster didn’t want to know who I was, Ian Harrison didn’t want to know who I was and had if they actually took a gamble and hired me, Suzuki could have been something before 2005 before Ricky Carmichael went there.
“So it is what it is, the path that I took and you know, didn’t necessarily want to go to Europe but then I think back and it was like some of the coolest moments of my life and it was a good stepping stone for me and learning the ropes. But yeah, I mean just winning, winning was it, that was it – I didn’t have any other goals.”
Watch the brilliant interview, 31 minutes in, below:
Reed also spoke to us about his MXoN memories below:
You can also hear from the aforementioned Larry Brooks as he talks about managing legends like Reed, Stewart and McGrath:
