from ... Chad Reed

Reed took his first holeshot of the year and traded blows with Trey Canard until his fellow Honda rider made a mistake, leaving the door open for the Australian to pull away. While his rivals struggled in the wet conditions Reed thrived, leading 17 of the 20 laps to take the victory nearly 6 seconds ahead of defending champion Ryan Dungey.

"It's emotional,” Reed admitted. "Only a few months ago I was contemplating drinking beer in the stands with the fans and here I am tonight celebrating my teams first ever win. This is awesome. I‘ve put so much work into this team to make it the best it can be. To win with your name on your chest makes everything so much better.

"I struggled through practice, but I still felt good and everything came together in the main,” he said.

Tonight's win was Reeds 39th career victory and is his sixth in San Diego, seeing him surpass Jeremy McGrath's record of five.

"It's not to often you can claim that you have beaten one of Jeremy records, so this is very cool,” he concluded.

Reed now sits third in the championship standings and has further reduced the points gap to championship leader Ryan Villopoto. The team will have little time to celebrate with the series heading to Atlanta's Georgia Dome next weekend.