Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/397402
INTERVIEW RYAN VILLOPOTO P70 we realized the meniscus and the ACL were going to take, at least, three months of additional preparation, then it came to frui- tion that we had no chance at being ready to race for the fifth consecutive Supercross title. A healthy Ryan would have been the clear favorite as he's the guy who has won four years in a row and can manage a series like no other. Ryan is here to win. This is his job. But the bottom line is: What does Ryan have to gain by coming to the last six Supercross races? Does he want to get in the middle of a championship of guys who have worked their butts off and put their asses on the line? What's Ryan going to do? Go win some races and get on the podium and just mess with the points and stuff? That's not what Ryan's about. Ryan is about win- ning. When this opportunity to go to Europe came up, it was like, "Man, what an opportunity to do something that nobody else has done." Talk about a legacy move. RV: Yeah, even a little bit prior to all this, I was wondering if I wanted to, basically, saddle back up. I was wondering if I wanted to climb that hill or climb that lad- der again with fitness and training and that whole thing. This is the third time I had my knee done. And I was also thinking, "Yeah, I could go out on top now." All this stuff was running through my head. As time went by, we had to make a move and do things to get the deal going. We got it going, but it took a lot longer than we all thought it would, actually. As far as getting the deal up and running, I'd assume things had to begin with Kawasaki. Yeah, at first it was like, "Well, what are they going to say? What's going to be their initial reaction?" Nobody goes from the U.S. to Europe. Everybody from Europe comes to the U.S., for whatever reason. I'm assuming because the racing is very big here. There is Supercross and the money and the salaries are a lot greater here. As far as Kawasaki as a company and me wanting to go that way, probably as one of highest paid guys out there, that was probably a pretty big pill to swallow. I think the Japanese side of Kawasaki, I think they saw the value in the marketing side of it. They're a worldwide company so they were able to see the value in me going over there as an American doing something that had never been done. Win or lose, this will sell more motorcycles than they've sold over there in Europe and sell more motorcycles around the world. And Monster Energy is also a global company. Exactly. Monster is a huge part Americans will now have a real reason to follow the MXGP season. It's been many years since an American has tried for a world title in the premier class.