Seeing his team, through years of hard work, finally reach the pinnacle as a national-event winner has been very gratifying for Cory Reed. Reed’s teammate and best friend Joey Gladstone having won two events (Sonoma, Topeka).

“Just after a little bit of a long road, four or five or six years for me, five years for Joey, it feels nice to finally get some success,” Reed said. “Keeps us wanting to come back.

“We put the work in, honestly. It's just as simple as that. We've tried a lot of stuff. We've simplified a lot of things. We went testing a bunch and worked at it, honestly. We're more prepared this year racing-wise than we've been at any point, and we've learned a lot the last few years too, like how to race on Sunday and all that type of stuff. Just kind of a combination of everything coming together.

“If we had to do our own engine stuff still, like when we did … the V-Twin stuff, we'd be full-time, all the time, working at it at the shop. We're lucky that we have the luxury of being able to get good power from somebody, you know?” Reed said. “But other than that, it gives me and Joey the luxury of going testing a lot, traveling, doing all the other stuff that you normally have to hire people to go do. Me and Joey drive the rig, you know? We drive everywhere. We've driven to every race for the past four or five years.”

Reed, 29, is a veteran PSM rider, but has been sidelined since last fall when he crashed in Charlotte last fall. He said he’s still in the recovery process.

“It hurts. It's hard to walk every now and then, but I'm good now,” he said.

Reed is also adjusting to being a father to his and wife Karolina’s year-old son.

“It's awesome,” Cory said. “He loves this place, too. Every morning ... he wakes up pretty early in the morning, so I'll take him out while she's making him breakfast. We'll ride the scooter around, and he likes watching all the Super Stock cars and all that stuff warm up. He starts jumping out, growling at them and stuff. I'm like, ‘That's funny.’ Shoot, all my other nephews do it already, so I would imagine he would follow suit with all the other kids.”

Reed would love nothing more than to see Gladstone add a third Wally on Sunday..

“Oh, it'd be awesome,” Reed said. “We've been in the finals five times this year, and we've only lost in the first round twice this year. 

“I mean, it's a good season. No matter how it ends up, that's a good season. Hopefully we just keep it going. Hopefully we keep everything fresh and maintained well and stay on top of this stuff, and hopefully just don't change nothing. Keep doing what we're doing. Just keep working at it, chipping away at it, and keeping our consistency, keeping the same people doing the same jobs.”

Reed said he and Gladstone will both be riding Suzukis in 2023.

“My bike and my chassis is in the trailer right now, actually,” Reed said. “I've had it since Virginia. I got it back from Vance & Hines when I crashed … I'm just waiting on some new bodywork stuff that's supposed to be coming out. … 

“And things were going so good there was no reason to bring back another bike right now, so we'll finish the year out like it is and then come back with our normal two-bike deal.”

Reed is anxious to get back on the bike, saying, “I'm just now getting back to where I feel like I could be comfortable riding, racing again.”