Detroit

Hey you might have heard that Chad Reed got injured in practice?

The track here in Pontiac is very technical. There are two rhythm lanes that are very tough, and riders were still experimenting with jump combinations into the second practice session, where as usually they have it all figured out by, well, the very first lap of the first practice. One such technical section claimed Reed. I'm not sure if anyone here saw his crash, because everyone has been asking all afternoon "Did you see the crash?" All I saw was a rider down, and then I scanned around and realized Reed wasn't out on the track any longer. I couldn't tell who it was because the rider was on the side of the track and stuffed up against some tuff blox, but when I saw Larry Brooks running to the scene, and Nathan Ramsey was still on the track, I knew the impossible had happened. Reed was down.

From our binoculars up here, we couldn't tell what was hurt, as Reed was holding his arm to his side. So what was hurt? His arm or his side? It appears it may be the side, because later Hollywood Holley saw Chad coughing hard as they loaded him into an ambulance. The Asterisk guys wanted him to get some other observations beyond what they can do at the track. They did not rule out Chad returning to race tonight. He's one tough SOB (that's a statement from me, not the Asterisk guys).

Reed wasn't here for the second practice session. By then the riders were ready to try some crazy jump combinations, and they're so tough that I really don't think you'll see them used in the main. First Windham started tripling through both lanes, then I saw Andrew Short doing it, and Millsaps, but Josh Hill's name kept coming up at the top of the board. He, obviously, had the sections down, too. Then Windham went to the top of the board, so Hill went out and went even faster. Hill seemed to jump the rhythm lane before the finish line just a little cleaner than everyone else, and he also jumped it from the right side, which gives him a better line in to the following left hand corner (Millsaps, for example, starts on the left and has to drift to the right through the section in order to get the corner right).

Could Hill steal points from Windham on a night when Windham has a huge opportunity to make up points?

By the way, Reed only has to ride one lap in his heat race to have an automatic entry in the main with a provisional. And once in the main, he gets one guaranteed point. Although I really don't think it will go that way, I think Reed will either race or not. He's not going to do a lap in the heat and main and just take his points.

In Lites, RV was fastest in the second session, and Grant fastest in the first, but Canard is right there. I think he can get a podium here with his eyes closed (he nearly got a podium last week after starting in last), and that's all he needs to do to get this title.

Either way, this most unpredictable season has just gotten unpredictable again. Who would have predicted that?

By the way, they're bringing one of those "Ball of Death" contraptions out onto the track right now. The one with the big steel ball that the riders can go upside down on when they get enough speed. This particular "Ball is Death" is actually called the "Sphere of Fear" and it's 90 freaking years old. 90! Makes me feel young today.

I also noted that the stalls in the men's room here at Ford Field have locks on the doors that say "Hiney Hiders." This place is awesome.