INTERVIEW
P86
AMA SUPERCROSS/NATIONAL MOTOCROSS CHAMPION RYAN VILLOPOTO
head from the '80s and '90s - Jeff
Ward. In nearly every other way,
though, Villopoto follows Ricky
Carmichael.
>>Following RC
Villopoto has a realistic shot at
records that seemed only a few
years ago to be untouchable,
and he may have been a lot closer if he didn't crash out of the
2010 AMA SX Championship,
and miss the 2009, 2010 and
2012 AMA 450cc Nationals with
injuries. Still, at eight total AMA
National Championships currently, he has now moved ahead
of Bob Hannah (six), Jeff Ward
and Ricky Johnson (seven each),
and is tied with Jeremy McGrath.
The only guy with more National
titles than Villopoto is the guy he's
most often compared to - Ricky
Carmichael (15).
Here's the problem, though:
If RV wins both titles in 2014 and
2015, he'll have 12 AMA National
Championships, and as of now,
he does still plan to retire after 2015. And he insists that he
doesn't care if he catches RC's
championship total or not.
"It doesn't really matter, honestly," Villopoto says. "I mean,
a lot of the records that are out
there are set pretty high already.
There're a few that are there that
can be touched, but my goals
aren't to chase after records. And
really, it doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter if you set the record or
what, you will always be kind of
forgotten. There will always be
the hot, new guy. What I did, or
Villopoto
shows off
his third
Supercross
Championship
ring.
RC did, doesn't end up mattering
in the end."
Villopoto isn't just chasing
RC's records, though, he's actually following RC's example. The
comparisons between RV and
RC are everywhere, and they're
valid. They're both redheads of a
similar stature, they have similar
riding styles, they're both dominant outdoor racers who learned
Supercross, and on and on and
on.
But it goes much deeper than
that.
After a couple of largely unsuccessful years racing the big-boy
class in Supercross, both RC
and RV hired Aldon Baker as a
trainer. After starting with Aldon
Baker, both RC and RV have
only lost championships in which
they didn't compete due to injury.
Otherwise, they're undefeated.
And after a similar number of
years training with Aldon Baker,
if RV does indeed retire after the
2015 season, RV will be 27 years
old, the same age as Carmichael
when he retired.
