It’s always a learning experience to interview Chad Reed, the Aussie has an incredibly detailed memory of his own career and a brilliant analytical mind about the riders of today. So, at the MXoN we had another chance to interview legendary Aussie, and Chad kindly gave us 15 minutes of his time to talk about his MXoN memories for team Australia and gave us his thoughts on Jett Lawrence, Haiden Deegan and Jorge Prado.
Watch or read below:
Chad Reed, we are here at Ironman, Motocross of Nations. You’ve had a lot of big Motocross of Nations experiences in your career. What stands out from your side, from your own personal rides and Australia as a team?
Ah man, it’s, I would say that like standing today at 43 retired, it’s your first experience. My first experience was 2000 at St. Jean for Australia, coming and seeing the best Americans, all the best Europeans and not having that experience and like kind of taking that experience, that moment, the understanding and then multiple years later when I was obviously more based in America, I was winning races in America.
Like you’re almost the little kid where you’re looking around, I have my children here today and they’re all looking around at the riders and their fans. I feel like I was a fan that was participating in an event where, you know, obviously when I was able to win races and be at the highest level and I was coming to the event, expecting to be one of the top three guys, that experience changes a lot, but you still have so much respect.
The MXGP paddock is something that’s near and dear. My first experience outside of Australia was here and so it’s always nice to come around and see all the people and as far as like the Australian team, I mean, just the evolution of it is really cool, you know, like I think for 20 plus years… they were always a team that was anywhere from P4 to P10. Through those 20 years, they had kind of guys come and go, you know, some guys ride GPs regularly and then we started to fight for podiums. We finally got one in 2011 and then, you know, the rebirth of, having multiple, it’s always hard to have a team that’s kind of like you can never be a one-man show, you got to have multiple guys and so the brothers have been able to do it in a really nice way and you’ve seen it, you know, P4, P3, P2 and then they won last year so it’s really, really cool to see and just like any racing, you’re only ever as good as your last one and it all resets this weekend and I think it’ll be really fun.
Going to these events in Europe, there’s a special feeling but I must say that walking around the paddock here today, there’s still a special feeling. There’s a big buzz today. There’s a buzz today and I really like that because like for me as a dad, I want my kids, like you kind of tell them, look, you’ve been to a lot of races but you have not yet been to a des Nations and I was really excited to share that experience with them and I think it’s really cool that there’s a special buzz.
America has, I think, grown to love this event and they’re embracing it more and then I think a lot of people from all over the world are all starting to travel here so I think as a fan, it’s really special and really cool to see the Nations thriving here in the States.
And you got to race Namur for an MXoN. I think that was your first year in GPs, how was that experience?
It was my first year in GPs and I won the first moto actually. It was the first time that an Australian had won a Moto. So that was really cool.
Did you like that track?
Oh, I loved that track. Absolutely loved it. It was, it’s funny, you know, like it was this track that was just like a big trail ride through the woods and you had to be, it wasn’t about just, you know, going fast. It was about being really calculated, being clever, picking good lines. I remember there was two huge, like crazy drop-offs. One we could double and the other one was kind of like a step down where you couldn’t jump it. I guess the history, like for me, I’m big on history and acknowledging, you know, all the guys that had raced prior to me, you know, guys that had won the races and pulled over and drink beers and I wasn’t fortunate enough to have a big enough lead to drink a beer, but I’m not a beer drinker, so I probably wouldn’t have done it anyway. The legend that is our sport and what the MXoN, Namur, you know, was a shiny, shining star of it, I think.
And other ones that stand out for me is your battle with Cairoli, it was on Instagram earlier this week and 2009 was awesome and you won the moto in 2011, you’ve been on the podium St. Jean. For those two, for you, how you felt on the bike, really showing your battle those two years?
I think it’s fair to say that 2009 and 2011 would be my two favourite ones and both weekends, we should have been at worst a P2 team. 2009, it was really special, like Tony and I have always been really close friends, always had a lot of respect and shared something special from friendship and so for him to be MX1 champion, and I was, you know, the 450 national champion that year. So it was kind of like really cool, you know? And it was an event that was in his backyard in Italy and the track was really unique, it wasn’t one that anyone had ever rode before, so it was really fair and it was a lot of motocross, but it had some cool, you know, American style big jumps and stuff, so I really enjoyed that particular event.
Yeah, and then St. Jean. St. Jean is, it’s one of the coolest, I know that a lot of people talk about Ernee but for me St. Jean’s is really special from a riding standpoint. I remember the big triple in the middle, I get chills even today talking about, like, when you made a right at the top of the hill, you just kind of have… you don’t see anything other than just fans in front of you and you just launch and it feels like you’re just jumping into the crowd and it was like you just jump into this big old fishbowl. It’s even hard to describe, but just, and again, what are we, we’re over 15 years later and it still gives me goosebumps!
Jett Lawrence, I was talking to Jeffrey Herlings at Lommel and he said he could find a weakness in Cairoli and Gajser and the other guys he raced, but he can’t find one in Jett Lawrence. If you’re racing Jett Lawrence, how would you try to beat him because no one’s figured it out yet?
That’s a hard one to answer because I think that it’s, you know, as a racer you’re competitive and you study, I study Jett in a very different way. I’m a dad, you know, with children that look up to Jett and, you know, and I see probably weaknesses that people don’t see and to be truthful, they’re very little and no one is able to, you know, shine a light on it.
I think that is Jett’s strength is when he has a weakness, his ability to correct it is really high, so I’m going to probably not answer it just because Jett’s Australian. Anything I say seems to be used against me, but I am the biggest Jett fan. My kids love him, as a dad if I could, want my children to replicate such a beautiful style and just a great rider. It would be Jett Lawrence, so I have nothing but respect and love for Jett, but anything that I say that could be critical or like in the, you know, it’s a loaded question for me, so I’m going to shy away from it, sorry.
It’s alright (laughs), so Jorge Prado might be the biggest question of how I saw him from racing in EMX85 at Matterley Basin and I’ve never seen anything like this season. You’ve worked with him and it’s went a lot worse than I thought and even worse probably than he thought. What are your thoughts on what he could do better or the bike could have done better because it turned into a disaster?
Yeah, it was definitely a disaster on both sides. I don’t know that Jorge sleeps at night thinking that he was his best version of himself and I don’t know that Kawasaki can put their hand up and say that they, you know, everything was was roses from their side, so I just hope that going forward for this sport, we get the best version of Jorge. I think that that’s needed because I think if you take the names out of it, you just want to race, you know, watch good riders from all over the world. Jorge’s still young, so I think it’s still important that we get to see the best of him in the AMA Nationals. So I don’t think it’s my place to pick and choose what he did right or wrong, but I think as a fan of the sport, I want to see the best version of Jorge Prado come out swinging in 2026.
Whenever I heard you were working with him at club and obviously you experienced with Kawasaki and you also renewed your own difficulties at factory Kawasaki, I felt you were the perfect person to bridge that gap. Was it close to being bridged when you were there because you obviously have the advice of both sides?
You know, like the scenario and the situation I think was very different than mine on from I think from Kawasaki side and from the rider side, you know, like I helped. I think Jorge is a super nice kid, is super respectful to me, and so therefore, you know, I tried to help, you know, more from a racer to racer. I think the easiest way to say it is, you know, can I contribute, can I help in all areas because I’ve lived all those areas, but you also need to, you also have to want to take that help and you also want to change it for the better, right? You either, I just… maybe I think I was there too late. I think it was already too far gone.
Your thoughts on Haiden Deegan, everything that’s happened recently and obviously the jump to the 450s.What is your opinion? Because you’ve, again, been there, seen there, done it, you’ve had to race Ricky and the build up for that and everything.
Yeah, I think Haiden’s a unique talent. You know, I think in motocross, I wouldn’t underestimate him in motocross. I think that he is clever, I think he’s young and he makes, you know, decisions and mistakes like all of us did at that age. You know, you can’t always shine light from the eyes of a 43-year-old retired guy because there’s so many things that you did to get to this point that you have the understanding that I do today. And so I think nobody’s perfect, everybody makes mistakes. Has he made big mistakes? Yes, but I wouldn’t underestimate him.
Supercross, I think, is going to be his biggest challenge. You know, I think that there’s some things that he’s probably the closest version of Ricky. Yeah, that I’ve seen and so it’ll be really interesting to see how he goes on a 450 in Supercross. Time will tell.
Ricky said that when he raced you, Stefan Everts, Windham, McGrath, he rode above his limit because he thought you guys couldn’t ride the edge. Jett and Haiden would maybe be a similar scenario. Do you think Haiden can push Jett to above Jett’s limit the way Ricky was able to do with you guys? Or what were your thoughts on that?
Yeah, I mean, that’s always hard because I think that they both have strengths in different areas. Jett’s a clever guy. I really believe that he’s a student of the sport. He is coming of age too. I think that’s what people, you know, I mean, even as shiny as it’s all been, you know, Jett’s made little mistakes along the way. I think that he’s coming into a period of his life where he’s like perspective is good and he’s getting on top of all those little mistakes.
And that’s what’s going to be really hard, Haiden’s about to enter that part of his life where he makes a lot of mistakes. Jett’s kind of got over that hump. So I think, yeah, it’ll be hard for Haiden. I think Jett is really quite clever, studies a lot, he’ll be a hard one to beat.
