American legend Ryan Villopoto the American motocross and supercross champion is something special in a sport of tough young men. The 3-time supercross and 5-time motocross champion resides in Minneola, Florida and races for Kawasaki in the supercross and outdoor motocross series.
Since 2006 he has pretty much owned his competition in America and continues to be ranked along with Italian Grand Prix legend Antonio Cairoli as the two fastest riders in the World.
2003
Villopoto won 12 titles for Team Green. He won two Kawasaki Race of Champions races, four Winter Olympic SX races, four Winter Olympic MX races, and two Winter Olympics Olympiad ti Villopoto won the NMA 85cc Open, and placed second in both the 85cc Stock and Modified classes at the AMA Amateur National Championships as a Team Green Rider.
2004
Competing in numerous amateur motocross races for Team Green and winning an impressive 12 titles. He won three races at Lake Whitney Spring National, three at the GNC Finals, two at Mammoth Motocross, and four at the NMA Ponca City Grand Nationals. Alessi did give Villopoto a hard time, but Sean Bohannon gave him an even harder time. Bohannon was dominating in the stock class until he unfortunately broke his femur at Ponca City.
2005
Villopoto concluded his career as a Team Green amateur racer and was honored for his many achievements as the recipient of the 2005 AMA Horizon Award. He competed in his first professional Motocross race at Binghamton’s Broome-Tioga Sports Center where he placed 15th overall. He finished up the remainder of his rookie season taking fifth overall at Steel City Raceway and second overall at Glen Helen Raceway.
2006
Villopoto began his professional career in the AMA Supercross Lites West Series at Angel Stadium for Anaheim I, where he finished second-place overall. He won his first race later in the season at Texas Stadium in Dallas and ended the Supercross Lites season third overall. Then Villopoto headed to the AMA Motocross Lites Series with a little more experience stemming from his amateur days. With eight podium finishes and six first-place finishes, Villopoto proved to be unstoppable during his rookie season and became the AMA Motocross Lites Champion. That momentum was carried over into the post-season where Villopoto was selected as a member of Team USA at the Motocross of Nations in England and helped Team USA claim first place. Villopoto was also named the 2006 AMA Supercross/Motocross Rookie of the Year.
2007
Villopoto started the season with a dominating performance in the AMA Supercross Lites West Series, where he won seven of the eight races. He carried his momentum into motocross, winning his second-straight AMA Motocross Lites Championship. To cap off a perfect season, Villopoto became the first rider in history to win the overalls in both motos on KX250F against larger 450cc motorcycles at the Motocross of Nations.
2008
Earned his third consecutive AMA [motocross] 250cc Championship by winning eight events and finishing on the podium in 10 of 12 starts. Finished second in the AMA Supercross Lites East Series with three wins and five podiums in seven starts. Claimed the MX1 championship at the Motocross of Nations helping Team USA earn the team title for the third consecutive year.
Professional 450cc career[edit]
2009
Villopoto’s beginning year in the AMA Supercross Series, racing a Team Kawasaki Factory KX450. Villopoto’s first win in the 450 class took place on his “hometown” track at Qwest Field, Seattle, on April 18. He dominated the field and won convincingly over Reed (2008 AMA Supecross Champion) and Stewart (who won 11 races and was the 2009 Series winner). Villopoto wrapped up the AMA Supercross series of 2009 with his second win in Las Vegas on May 2. Villopoto also won the opening round of the 2009 motocross outdoor series at Glen Helen Raceway in Southern California. Villopoto finished with two first place finishes after even after mid pack starts in both motos. He was unable to compete throughout the rest of the series due to a knee injury that required surgery. The surgery would keep him out of professional racing until the 2009 U.S. Open of Supercross in Las Vegas, where he finished second. Then later on, won the 2010 championship.
2010
Villopoto returned with the Monster Energy Kawasaki Team in the Supercross class and battled consistently with Ryan Dungey throughout the season. While in the lead during 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.
2011
The 2011 season was a five way battle between Villopoto, James Stewart Jr., Chad Reed, Ryan Dungey and Trey Canard. Villopoto consistently finished toward the top of his class, with the exception of round 11 where he failed to qualify, crashing in both his heat race and the Last Chance Qualifier. This was a notable event as the round in Jacksonville was the first time in over a decade that a points leader failed to qualify for a supercross main event. On May 7, Villopoto won the 2011 AMA Supercross Championship by a margin of 4 points over Reed (338–334). Villopoto won the 2011 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship by a margin of 14 points over reigning champion Dungey and a tough battle over Reed. In October, Villopoto won all 3 main-event races of the inaugural Monster Energy Cup in Las Vegas, Nevada, earning a publicized $1,000,000 prize.
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 of Round 15 at his “hometown” track, Quest Field in Seattle, he suffered a knee injury after a wreck on 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 will be out for the remainder of the two rounds, even though he 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 the main show for the title, even though they tried their best shots for the season. Despite having a bad start for Villopoto in the Season Opener in Anaheim in 2013 where he finished 16th Place, he got back up winning 10 times 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, and will be the 4th Rider to become one of the greatest Supercross racers in history as he joins Bob Hannah, Jeremy McGrath, and Ricky Carmichael, the only riders to win three straight titles. Ryan Villopoto have scored an another major AMA pro motocross championship winning his second out of three 450 class motocross season he competed in. He clinched the title at round 11 at the Utah national, one round early before the Season Finale in Lake Elsinore, claiming 563 championship points in the 2013 season, 56 more points over his rival Ryan Dungey. It was a long hard fought season between main contenders including Ryan Dungey, justin Barcia, Trey Canard, James Stewart, Jr.
On October 20, 2013, Villopoto raced the Monster Energy Cup, for the third time. On the first moto, Villopoto took the Joker Lane, and Ryan Dungey missed it on the Final Lap and was docked five positions, which resulted of putting him 6th place. On the second moto, Villopoto was battling hard with James Stewart, Jr., and on the Final Lap, he missed the Joker Lane, and then suffered a horrific crash, going right over the table top and over the bars, which allows Stewart to take the win, and as a result, he was unable to race the third moto. It is unknown whether Villopoto to prepare to start racing for the 2014 AMA Supercross Series.
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 in Oakland during the 2014 Supercross season.
Total Career AMA Wins
19 Wins in 125/250 AMA Motocross 6-2006 5-2007 9-2008
36 Wins in 250/450 AMA Supercross 2-2009 7-2010 6-2011 9-2012 10-2013 2-2014
12 Wins in 250/450 AMA Motocross 1-2009 3-2011 8-2013
66 Total AMA Wins 6-2006 5-2007 9-2008 3-2009 7-2010 9-2011 9-2012 18-2013
Major Championships
2013 AMA US National Motocross Champion
2013 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series Champion
2012 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series Champion
2011 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series Champion
2011 AMA US National Motocross Champion
2011 Motocross Des Nations World Champion Team USA Member
2008 AMA US National Motocross (250cc) Champion
2008 Motocross Des Nations World Champion Team USA Member
2007 AMA US Supercross (West-250cc) Champion
2007 AMA US National Motocross (250cc) Champion
2007 Motocross Des Nations World Champion Team USA Member
2006 Motocross Des Nations World Champion Team USA Member
2006 AMA Supercross / Motocross Rookie of The Year