Cole Davies is showing he is not only elite in Supercross but that he is also the real deal in outdoor motocross. In fact the Kiwi’s skillset, mindset and personality is eerily like Chad Reed.
Reed’s level of self-belief along with high standards and an extremely high technical level, plus great decision making under pressure, all made Chad one of the greats as did his ability to prove people wrong and believe in himself when no-one else did. Now Davies is treading a very similar path, not intimidated by Haiden Deegan and proving he can beat him straight up in Supercross before confounding the critics outdoors with a blistering overall 1-1 at High Point to launch himself into title contention in his first full year.
There should be no doubters now and Reed was full of praise for Davies when he joined Ricky Carmichael on Title 24 last week. Chad said: “Cole is a family favourite, he is a super rad kid. For me you respect people for who they are and how they treat their children. He communicates, plays games online with our kids all the time so he is a favourite in the house so it would be hard for me to go against Cole.
“It’s hard to not see a young 17/18 year old myself in him. Obviously we have a similar upbringing, he grew up in New Zealand, not Aussie but that raw attention, the media, the cameras, everything is so new to him. There’s no filter, he’s young and I can relate to that version of him.
“Cole is 18/19, on his sixth outdoor National and I still believe that these (US) tracks, the way of riding, the way of racing, it is unique. I don’t care how much experience you have in the big world of Motocross, there is some adaption that is needed. I would agree with Wil Hahn, that once he learns something and has that data in the back of his head, he is able to use it on a consistent basis and that is what separates, in my opinion, the great from the good. The information doesn’t need to be drilled home every day, every hour, every week. He can take that information and have that as his normal. My pick would be Cole and I think he is the one that poses the biggest threat for this championship.”
