Ryan Villopoto

Ryan Villopoto
Nationality  United States
Born (1988-08-13) August 13, 1988
Poulsbo, Washington
Current team Retired
Bike number # 2

Ryan Villopoto (born August 13, 1988 in Poulsbo, Washington) is a motocross and supercross racer.[1]

Villopoto 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.[2] He retired from professional racing after finding out injuries sustained from a crash at the MXGP of Trentino were worse than they initially realized.

In 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.[3] 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.

AMA Supercross Results[4]
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.[5] 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.[6] In July, Ryan announced his retirement on his official website.[7]

Total career AMA wins

References

  1. ↑ Ryan Villopoto wins AMA Supercross title. Usatoday.Com (2011-05-08). Retrieved on 2011-12-05.
  2. ↑ DiZinno, Tony (July 9, 2015). "Motocross/Supercross legend Ryan Villopoto announces retirement". NBC Sports. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Ryan Villopoto Injury Update". Kawasaki.com. April 19, 2010. Archived from the original on May 8, 2010. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
  4. ↑ AMA Supercross Results Archive. Results.amasupercross.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-05.
  5. ↑ Kelly, Godwin (March 8, 2014). "Villopoto captures 4th of last 5 Daytona Supercross events". News-JournalOnline.com. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
  6. ↑ Smith, Shawn (October 1, 2014). "Ryan Villopoto leaving American motocross, will race MXGP series for ‘final year of racing’". motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  7. ↑ Villopoto, Ryan (July 9, 2015). "Farewell: Motocross and Supercross legend, Ryan Villopoto Announces Retirement". rv2.com. Retrieved 2016-04-16.

External links

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