Chad Reed -- The Owner/Rider

ESPN.com: What was the hardest part about running your own program? Reed: The hardest part was starting late. Nothing surprised me, nothing really jumped out and caught me off guard. It was a pleasant surprise that it was an enjoyable experience and something that I enjoyed along the way. It was fun.

How much further ahead are you now than you were one year ago?
I think the biggest thing is the fact that we have factory support, that's huge for us. The fact that we're not out trying to outsource parts and build parts helps. I just feel like we're a long way ahead. There's also the fact that I'm going into a season riding the same motorcycle, which is something that hasn't happened in four years. I'm really excited about not having to relearn a bike and set it up.

What do you have access to now that you didn't in 2011?
I have everything. TwoTwo Motorsport is now based out of American Honda. They are no longer officially racing AMA Superbike, so we moved into the road race shop. We're right next door to the moto team. The fact that we have access to the race shop and facilities is a huge advantage for us.

Steve CoxTwoTwo Motorsports' Chad Reed will be back in 2012 with a bigger crew, more support and looking for more wins.

I felt like I saw a different attitude from you in 2011. Do you feel like you have a different attitude?
Since 2009, my attitude has changed. I think Mike Gosselaar brought the best out in me. It was fun and a real enjoyable experience and the best team that I'd worked for at that point. I was really disappointed that we couldn't continue that relationship. Suzuki was having tough times with the economy and it seems like they were affected the most. It wasn't possible for me to continue there so I had to move on to Kawasaki and that relationship just never worked out. I felt like we were all different people and they ran the business quite different from what fit my personality. Therefore it wasn't successful... Moving on from there and then being forced to create my own race team, you go back to that happy feeling and try to recreate that. I try to base my team around that feeling I had back in 2009 and I think that was where it all began. That opened up my eyes that, as a racer and as an athlete, you can be happy, you don't have to complain and be mad at the world 24/7. There really are people out there that work and have ethics that are just like yours. That's really it. I wouldn't really call it a major attitude adjustment. It was just a reflection of me being happy. Anybody that's happy, it's hard to hide that.

It's sad that, as humans, we always like the underdog or the guy who is doing it different.

--Chad Reed

And the fans seemed to rally around you and your underdog story this year.
Yeah. That's really cool and you're really appreciative of that but in a lot of ways it's sad that, as humans, that's how we operate. We always like the underdog or the guy who is doing it different. I didn't do anything different this year than I've done any other year. The fact that I ran my own race team and owned the team and TwoTwo Motorsports is my company, um, but as far as the effort that I put in to go racing and the person that I was, I didn't change. I didn't suddenly put in a bunch of more effort or try harder or anything like that.

You're preparing for your eleventh year here in the States. What do you expect?
I expect the same that I did in the first year: go out and win races and put myself in a position to win a championship. I feel that this is my year, I got to go for it. In a lot of ways this year replicates the way I felt going into '04 and '08, and that's a good thing because I won races and championships in those years. For some reason my championships are four years apart and we're at that number again. I'm on the Olympic schedule I guess. We got some great support from Bel-Ray, Honda, Shift and Fox and I'm really excited about what 2012 will bring.

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