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 P72 be tough. It's going to be a com- pletely different world. I'm going to try and be as ready as I can be for it and whatever happens, happens. That's the way I'm go- ing to leave it. This kind of is just basically a deal where I'm going to give it my best shot of winning it. If not, I'm good. I'm okay. And I want everybody to know that now. I'm retiring after this. I'm just putting it out on the table now: whatever the outcome, I'm retir- ing. Will your longtime trainer Al- don Baker still remain involved in your program in 2015? Yeah, I read that I had fired Aldon. That was another one of those good stories I have read about my decision. Yeah, I'm still with Aldon. I'll still be working with him. You have nine major AMA ti- tles and current MXGP champ Antonio Cairoli has eight World Championships. It's pretty easy to pitch this whole thing as a war of the world show- down. How do you see it? Are your legacies on the line or is Cairoli just another guy to go race? Honestly, he's another guy to go race. Is he one of the best guys? Yes, he's one of the best guys over there. Can you com- pare the racing over there to the racing over here? No, you can- not. They don't race Supercross. There isn't even a Supercross series over there. You can't com- pare the two. They only have out- doors. To say who has the better riders, you see all this stuff, "Who has the better riders?" and you go off of Motocross of Nations. It's one weekend. You go off Anaheim 1. The last two years I've done terrible. That's what you're going to go off of? Not to say you can't judge off of the Motocross of Nations, but on one hand you can and on the other hand you cannot. As for Cairoli himself? He's going to be tough. First of all, he's in his element. He's done it. He knows the tracks. I think I'm going to run into some places where he is going to be better, and probably vice-versa. There will be places where I will be bet- ter. I think we're going to run into situations where I catch him off- guard and I'll run into situations where he catches me off-guard. One thing with me, I've never had a problem getting used to a track. The place I raced over there was St. Jean d'Angely. I've heard that's one of the worst places they go to in the series. It's like rock bed underneath with a little bit of dirt on top. I fared fine there. Getting used to the dirt and getting used to the tracks isn't going to be one of my issues. No matter what the outcome is in Europe, win or lose, Villopoto will retire after the 2015 racing season.