Podium Pie with Ryan Villopoto

swapmoto

• April 19 2009
• 3,501 views
• 16 comments

Ryan Villopoto earned the first 450 Supecross win of his career last night, in front of his home-state fans in Washington. To say that he was excited would be an understatement, and he had the massive crowd at Qwest Field on its feet, cheering and swinging things through the air, each time he came around. We caught up with Ryan as he was still wiping the champagne out of his eyes.

Ryan what does it mean to get this first win in relation to the rest of the year?
It’s definitely awesome. It’s not been the season I wanted it to be, but it happens. I rode pretty good the first part of the year, and then with all the travel, planes, and new places I got sick and raced a few sick, but it got to the point we had to call it quits. I went home to recovery and regroup, and the Thursday before Jacksonville I started to get ready for this, and it paid off. There’s nothing better than winning in front of all the fans and family from around here. I’ve had Washougal slip away from me three times, but I won here back in 2007 in the Lites class. But to get the first big bike win in front of everyone, there’s nowhere else I’d rather have gotten it.

You trailed Mike Alessi in the opening laps. Did you use all that time to think where you wanted to make a move?
Yeah, that’s what I did the whole time. I had caught up to him, and it was a little tricky to get by after the whoops went away and the soil was different in spots, rutty and loamy one place and then slick in others, like where he fell. When he went down, it was close and sketchy to get by because it was a weird spot, and when I slowed down, Davi closed the gap, so I had to put down a few good laps to get away.

It was ironic to see the two of you battling for what would be both of your first wins, since the two of you have been archrivals since your mini bike days…
Yeah, Mike has made some big improvements in his Supercross skills, and he rode well on a tough track. So now I’m focused on the outdoors, but the next two weeks will be all about riding good and being safe to finish the season okay. But as of right now, all my effort is for outdoors.

Did you have some close calls out there, it seemed like everyone did over the course of the day.
Yeah, but not too bad, just little things like cross rutting or something. The biggest thing I think could have happened would have been tipping over somewhere. The team worked hard to get me back to where I was before my break, and I’m glad to make it worth it.

Did that feel like those 20 laps lasted longer than normal?
No, not really actually. I battled with Mike for awhile so that sped it up, because at one point I looked at the lap board and it said lap nine and then it was 17! It went quick, but I was never super winded, but I could feel it. I rode well, and that’s what matters.

How do you feel, not about the win or tonight, but health and body wise? It seemed like you caught what was big a few years ago when the pro tour was hit with Epstein-Barr and mono.
I feel great. It was just a sickness I caught, which felt like the flu at first that wouldn’t go away, and rode New Orleans with it and I felt good for a few days after that, but we had a few doctors look at it and none of them could pin it down.  One said it was mono, another said intestinal virus, so we treated it as mono and did what it took to come back.

How does this compare to winning everything else you’ve racked up over the years?
It’s up there. The des Nations, and the titles in the Lites class, those were great for the huge weight they carry, but as an individual win, this is huge. First one on the big class, and it was in front of the hometown.

And you did it in purple.
(Laughs) Yeah, it’ some stuff I picked out of Mo’s designs, so it’s pretty cool stuff and I like it!