Ryan Villopoto gets first MXGP win in Thailand
Just two weekends into his FIM MXGP career and Ryan Villopoto can already call himself a World Championship event winner.
The 10-time US champion won Race 1 of Round 2 of the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship last weekend at Nakhonchaisri raceway in Thailand, and then finished third in Race 2, giving him 45 points to Clement Desalle’s 44, winning the event overall.
Villopoto had been suspension testing in Europe last week following a disappointing seventh-place ranking in Qatar. It paid off immediately last weekend, with RV2 winning the qualifying race by 33 seconds.
The American currently finds himself in fourth place in the World Championship standings, 18 points back of points leader Desalle.
“We only had two days to test when we went back to Europe but we made good progress with the bike,” said Villopoto. “We made some big suspension changes and then some fine tuning here. I think the track here is not only new for all of us, it is also a little more jumpy than the usual GP track and suited me. For sure there will be weeks when a track suits me best, and other weeks when the track suits the European guys.
“I didn't ride this sort of heat for one and a half years, and it even started snowing when we were training in Belgium on Tuesday, so it was a shock change for all of us. I guess I have some things to learn too. I also backed off my pace in the qualifier but I think the other guys did so even more to save energy in the heat. There's a strategy to GP racing but I'm gradually getting used to it. I got pushed around a little in the first few turns of race two but when I got to third I just tried to be smart, and at this stage of the season a safe third is better than risking a crash. It's cool to come here to Thailand and see things which you would normally only see in the movies; it's a bizarre experience."