2008 Monster Energy Supercross Awards

Click the following link for a 31-photo gallery from the 2008 Monster Energy Supercross Awards Banquet.

Hoisting the AMA number one plate, Chad Reed said, “This is what it’s all about. Stepping away from mom and dad at 18, packing two suitcases and chasing a dream. That’s to get this thing.”

Then lifting the $100,00 championship check, he added, “This thing means shit. Honestly, that brings so much drama to your life. I’d take this thing (the plate) any day, and go back to Australia and live happily ever after.”

The scene was the Sunday night following the last round of the 2008 Monster Energy Supercross season. The riders, teams and sponsors that make up the traveling circus were at the Planet Hollywood Theatre for the Performing Arts Monster Energy Supercross Awards, and Chad was speaking to the assembled crowd. “Man, four years later, and here we are again. It’s been a rough trip between titles, that’s for sure. It doesn’t get any easier to talk up here in front of the lights. I don’t know why, but talking in front of your peers is tough.”

There’s something about being on the podium as a champion that seems to bring out the emotion in the riders every year. It was no different with Chad, particularly when he was talking about his parents, who were in attendance. “Everyone gets up here and thanks their mom and dad. Man, you guys don’t know what it feels like to have your mom and dad there every weekend, and have their support. I’m so proud to be here this weekend…and I hate crying.”

The 17 weekends of racing, along with the preparation for it, make for a pretty intense experience, and the ’08 season wasn’t an easy one for Chad. “I’ve been through a pretty rough season. There’s a lot of wins, and a lot of ups and downs, at the race, away from the race, and nobody knows what’s been going on behind the scenes.”

Among his thanks to sponsors and friends, he mentioned a conversation with his L&M Team Manager, Larry Brooks. “I looked Larry in the eyes when he said he wanted to win a Supercross Championship, and I said, ‘I can do it.’ I truly never gave up that I couldn’t win this thing back. I’ve had some tough competitors over the time with RC and James. It was a real shame to see James get hurt this year. I felt like I was ready. I felt like Yamaha brought a motorcycle to the table that was competitive enough to win this year.”

“It’s contract time, and you guys have made it something special. I really hope that I can stick around and come back next year and run that number…I shouldn’t say number one, I don’t know if I’m going to run it. But the red background, and run it proud.”

“This has been a neat experience. Hopefully we can continue this far more than these two years.”

After some of the verbal volleys that he and Kevin Windham had exchanged late in the season, Chad offered this. “Man, K-Dub, you stepped it up this year. I think you said it best. We kind of gained some enemies along the way, but it’s all said and done, and I respect you a lot as a competitor and as a person. I’ve never underestimated as far as what you could do on a motorcycle, and you definitely proved that you had what it took to win races this year. You made my job harder at times when I wanted it to be easy.”

For his part, K-Dub also offered congratulations to his title rival. “Chad and I, we went at it this year. It was fun, and looking back on it, it was an incredible season.” Motioning to Chad, he said, “I gave you my all, man, so you deserve it. Congratulations on the Championships, both the East, and the West…wherever the West is. Apparently, the Lites West Champion, was nowhere to be found.

Chad also mentioned the speedy West Coast winner, who in addition to his championship trophy would have picked up an additional award as Entertainer of the Year. “That’s J-Law. I love that about him. It changes up our sport. Everyone’s so straight and kind of boring. He puts some color in the sport and I can respect that. He’s true to who he is.”

Reed also had some congratulations for Trey Canard, the Lites East champ. “Trey, awesome job. You knocked off a champ who killed it last year. Not only in his own championships, but in his nation’s in the Motocross of Nations. That’s pretty cool.”

The entire list of winners on the night looked like this.

AMA Recognition: Rob Dingman
FIM Recognition: John Gallagher
Team Manager of the Year: Forest Butler
Transport Driver of the Year: Brian Swead
100% Award: Thomas Hahn
Entertainer of the Year: Jason Lawrence
Team of the Year: Honda
Rising Star: Ryan Dungey
Western Regional AMA Supercross Lites class Champion: Jason Lawrence
Eastern Regional AMA Supercross Lites class Champion: Trey Canard
AMA Supercross Champion: Chad Reed
Mechanic of the Year: Oscar Wirdeman
Dave Coombs Sr. East/West Shootout Champion: Ryan Dungey
Rookie of the Year: Josh Hill
Top Privateer Award: Paul Carpenter
Lifetime Achievement: Selvaraj Narayana

To see more from the night (along with more of the award recipients) you can click the link at the top of this article to check out the full photo gallery.

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