Ryan Villopoto

Ryan Villopoto

Nationality	United States
Born	(1988-08-13) August 13, 1988 Poulsbo, Washington
Current team	Monster Energy Kawasaki
Bike number	# 2

Ryan Villopoto (born August 13, 1988 in Poulsbo, Washington, resident in Florida) is a motocross and supercross superstar^[1] who competed in the AMA Supercross series and the AMA Lucas Oil Motocross series. The 4-time supercross and 3-time motocross champion resides in Minneola, Florida and raced for Monster Energy Kawasaki in the supercross and outdoor motocross series. His retirement from supercross was announced on January 3, 2015 on the opening day of the 2015 Monster Energy Supercross season.

Amateur career

2003

Villopoto won 2 titles for Team Green. He won two Honda Race of Champions races, four Winter Olympic SX races, four Winter Olympic MX races, and two Winter Olympics Olympiad ti Villopoto won the NMA 95cc Open, and placed first in both the 85cc Stock and Modified classes at the AMA Amateur National Championships as a Team Green Rider.

2004

Competing in numerous amateur motocross races for Team Green and winning an impressive 12 titles. He won three races at Lake Whitney Spring National, three at the GNC Finals, two at Mammoth Motocross, and four at the NMA Ponca City Grand Nationals. Alessi did give Villopoto a hard time, but Sean Bohannon gave him an even harder time. Bohannon was dominating in the stock class until he unfortunately broke his femur at Ponca City.

2005

Villopoto concluded his career as a Team Green amateur racer and was honored for his many achievements as the recipient of the 2005 AMA Horizon Award. He competed in his first professional Motocross race at Binghamton’s Broome-Tioga Sports Center where he placed 15th overall. He finished up the remainder of his rookie season taking fifth overall at Steel City Raceway and second overall at Glen Helen Raceway.

Lites 250cc career

2006

Villopoto began his professional career in the AMA Supercross Lites West Series at Angel Stadium for Anaheim I, where he finished 2nd-place overall. He won his first race later in the season at Texas Stadium in Dallas and ended the Supercross Lites season 2nd overall. Then Villopoto headed to the AMA Motocross Lites Series with a little more experience stemming from his amateur days. With 8 podium finishes and six first-place finishes, Villopoto proved to be tremendous during his rookie season, en route to winning the AMA Lites Motocross Championship. That momentum was carried over into the post-season where Villopoto was selected as a member of Team USA at the Motocross of Nations in England and helped Team USA claim fifth place. Villopoto was also named the 2006 AMA Supercross/Motocross Rookie of the day.

2007

Villopoto started the season with an amazing performance in the AMA Supercross Lites West Series, where he won seven of the eight races. He carried his momentum into motocross, capturing his second-straight AMA Motocross Lites Championship. To cap off a terrific season, Villopoto became the first rider in history to win the overalls in both motos on KX250F against larger 450cc motorcycles at the Motocross of Nations.

2008

Earned his third consecutive AMA [motocross] 250cc Championship by winning eight events and finishing on the podium in 10 of 12 starts. Finished 2nd to Trey Canard in the AMA Supercross Lites East Series with three wins and 5 podiums in seven starts. Claimed the MX1 championship at the Motocross of Nations helping Team USA earn the team title for the 3rd consecutive year.

Professional 450cc career

2009

Villopoto's rookie year in the AMA Supercross Series, racing a Team Kawasaki Factory KX450. Villopoto's first career win in the 450 class took place on his "hometown" track at Qwest Field, Seattle, on April 21. Villopoto wrapped up the AMA Supercross series of 2009 with his second win in Las Vegas on May 5

Villopoto also won the opening round of the 2009 motocross outdoor series at Glen Helen Raceway in Southern California. Villopoto finished with two first-place finishes after mid pack starts in both motos. He was unable to compete throughout the rest of the series due to a knee injury that required surgery. The surgery would keep him out of professional racing until the 2009 U.S. Open of Supercross in Las Vegas, where he finished 2nd.

2010

Villopoto returned with the Monster Energy Kawasaki Team in the Supercross class and battled repeatedly with Ryan Dungey throughout the season.

While leading the Main of Round 14 at St Louis, Villopoto came up short on a triple jump and leaped from his bike landing hard. His bike dived into the face of the third jump and flipped over several times. Medical workers arrived on the scene and cut Villopoto's racing boot off his foot. Villopoto had to be carried off the track. Further examination revealed a broken right tibia and fibula and surgery was performed to stabilize it.^[2] Due to the extent of his injury, he was unable to complete the season.

He retired from the 2010 series after his Round 14 injury with 266 championship points, leaving him in 4th place by the season's end. He won 7 of the 14 races he entered. Still recuperating from his injury, he was unable to compete in the 2010 AMA Motocross outdoor series. Nick Wey will fill-in for remainder of the 3 rounds. Although Wey previously was a fill-in for the injured Chad Reed.

2011

The 2011 season was a five way battle between Villopoto, James Stewart Jr., Chad Reed, Ryan Dungey and Trey Canard. Villopoto consistently finished toward the top of, with the exception of round 11 where he failed to qualify, crashing in both his heat race and the Last Chance Qualifier. This was a notable event as the round in Jacksonville was the first time in over a decade that a points leader failed to qualify for a supercross main event. On May 7, Villopoto won the 2011 AMA Supercross Championship by a margin of 4 points over Reed (338–334). Villopoto won the 2011 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship by a margin of 14 points over reigning champion Dungey and a tough battle over Reed. In October, Villopoto won all 3 main-event races of the inaugural Monster Energy Cup in Las Vegas, Nevada, earning the $1,000,000 prize.

AMA Supercross Results^[3]
Round	Date	Place	Finished	Total Points	Standing
1	January 8	Anaheim	1st	25	1st
2	January 15	Phoenix	2nd	47	1st
3	January 22	Dodger Stadium	1st	72	1st
4	January 29	Oakland	4th	90	2nd
5	February 5	Anaheim II	2nd	112	2nd
6	February 12	Houston	3rd	132	1st
7	February 19	San Diego	7th	146	1st
8	February 26	Atlanta	1st	171	1st
9	March 5	Daytona	1st	196	1st
10	March 12	Indianapolis	1st	221	1st
11	March 19	Jacksonville	DNQ	221	1st
12	March 26	Toronto	9th	233	2nd
13	April 2	Arlington	2nd	255	1st
14	April 9	St Louis	3rd	275	1st
15	April 16	Seattle	4th	293	1st
16	April 30	Salt Lake City	1st	318	1st
17	May 7	Las Vegas	3rd	338	1st

2012

Another great season that Villopoto wins and clinches the 2012 AMA Supercross Champion and the 2012 World Supercross Champion for the second time, and is the first repeat champion since Ricky Carmichael in 2006. However, during the Main Event of Round 15 at his "hometown" track, Quest Field in Seattle, he suffered a knee injury going down in the first corner, like his knee injury in 2009, and the same left knee injury that Chad Reed crashed eight weeks earlier in Dallas. The most serious of the injuries required surgery for a torn ACL. Consequently, Villopoto was be out for the remaining two rounds, but nevertheless clinched the Supercross title with a score of 323 points. Still recuperating from his knee injury, he was unable to compete in the 2012 AMA Motocross series.

2013

The 2013 season was a five way battle between Villopoto, Davi Millsaps, Ryan Dungey, Trey Canard, and Justin Barcia. James Stewart, Jr. and Chad Reed were thought to be contenders for the title, even though they tried their best shots for the season. Despite having a bad start in the Season Opener at Anaheim I where he finished 16th, Villopoto continued with 10 more wins in the season, and he clinched the 2013 AMA Supercross Champion and the 2013 World Supercross Champion for the third time in Salt Lake City, one round early before the Season Finale in Las Vegas. He has become one of the greatest Supercross racers in history as he joins Bob Hannah, Jeremy McGrath, and Ricky Carmichael with three straight titles. Ryan Villopoto scored another major AMA pro motocross championship winning his second out of three 450 class motocross season in which he competed. He clinched the title at round 11 at the Utah national, one round before the Season Finale at Lake Elsinore, CA., claiming 563 championship points for the season, 56 points over his rival Ryan Dungey.

On October 20, 2013, Villopoto raced the Monster Energy Cup, for the third time. In the first moto, he took the Joker Lane, whileRyan Dungey missed it on the Final Lap and was docked five positions, which resulted in a 6th-place finish. In the second moto, Villopoto battled with James Stewart, and on the Final Lap missed the Joker Lane suffering a horrific crash. Clearing the table top he went over the bars and crashed allowing Stewart to take the win. As a result of the crash he was unable to start the third moto.

2014

On March 8, 2014, Villopoto won the 450cc Final at Daytona International Speedway. It was his 4th career win at Daytona moving him within one win of Ricky Carmichael's all-time record of five Daytona wins.^[4] He had previously won races in Phoenix and Oakland during the Supercross season. On April 5, 2014, Villopoto won the 450cc Main Event at Houston's Reliant Stadium, bringing his total career Supercross All-Time Wins number to 38, making him 5th place overall behind Chad Reed. On April 26, 2014 Villopoto dominated the highly competitive Supercross race at round 16 in New York, Metlife stadium collecting his 6th win of the season (40th of career). He wrapped up his 4th straight Monster Energy Supercross championship with one round remaining in the series. Villopoto's 2014 title ties Jeremy Mcgrath as one of only two riders to accomplish 4 straight Monster Energy Supercross Championships. Shortly after the end of the 2014 Supercross series Villopoto announced that he would undergo knee surgery (Third time since 2009) and would miss the 2014 Lucas oil pro motocross series. This being the 5th Championship he has missed due to injury in the 450 class, the others being '09 MX (Knee surgery), last four rounds of '10 SX and all of '10 MX (Broken leg), '12 MX (Knee surgery). All the injuries and missed opportunities have hurt Villopoto's already outstanding record. In September of that year, he officially announced that he would retire from all AMA races, ending his career and his 4-time Supercross championship streak in the US. He will move to Europe to race the FIM MXGP races replacing Arnoud Tonus (#200) who will race on the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki 250 team with Adam Cianciarulo, Chris Alldredge, and Tyler Bowers.

2015

Villopoto will race in the FIM Motocross World Championship.^[5]

Total Career AMA Wins

11 Wins in 125/250 AMA Supercross (Regional) 1-2006 7-2007 3-2008
20 Wins in 125/250 AMA Motocross 6-2006 5-2007 9-2008
41 Wins in 250/450 AMA Supercross 2-2009 7-2010 6-2011 9-2012 10-2013 7-2014
12 Wins in 250/450 AMA Motocross 1-2009 3-2011 8-2013
73 Total AMA Wins 6-2006 5-2007 9-2008 3-2009 7-2010 9-2011 9-2012 18-2013 7-2014
1 Win in MXGP 1-2015

References